Hosting is like taking the technology for a test drive
There’s nothing like the feeling of sitting behind the wheel of a brand new car! Every time I buy a new care, it’s a huge decision. I think long and hard about what features I want, the cost of the car, and the cost of maintenance. And of course, I made sure to take it for a test drive (or two) before I made my final decision.
Don’t you wish we were able to do that before making any purchase, especially a huge technology one? Well you can — sort of. It’s called hosting.
Hosting affords businesses all the technical advantages of advanced communication and collaboration services without the large capital investment, which makes it especially attractive right now to cash strapped organizations. In a hosted scenario, the hardware and software is physically located on the provider network/data center. The provider owns, monitors and manages the solution, and provides access to management portals to customers.
Although it’s been slow coming, we see an increasing number of organizations turning to a purely hosted model. In the past, some hosted communications, such as VoIP, saw very limited adoption, especially among midsize to large organizations. What we are seeing though is more organizations at least evaluating it.
Other services, such as hosted audio, video and Web conferencing have been growing in popularity for years and continue to experience growth. And SaaS, once limited to small number of applications, has really taken off! Vendors such as Microsoft, IBM, have joined Google to offer hosted collaborative applications, and we see many service providers adding SaaS to their portfolio.
We know hosted services can be a practical solution, especially for SMBs that do not have the IT staff, or budget to deploy and manage the service internally. For organizations exploring the idea of deploying a new UC application, trying a hosted version (even small scale) let’s them bring the solution in-house for a test drive before deciding whether to deploy the technology in-house, continue to use a third-party hosted provider, or not deploy the solution.
As with any service, the customer is under contract for a specified amount of time, which will vary between services and vendor. Other than that, there are a few downsides to using a hosted solution. There’s often less flexibility and options in configuring the system, and upgrades usually wait until the provider is prepared to offer them.
Another downside (especially for VoIP) is that most providers still do not offer the coverage area required for companies with global locations, although we do see that changing, especially among the larger carriers.
Of course, the main business driver to adopt any new technology right now is cost, and the fact is for some services, providers still don’t have pricing to a level that makes sense for larger enterprises compared to in-house solutions. In contrast, SMBs can often achieve cost savings.
High-cost applications, such a telepresence, are garnering interest from large organizations, as they want to use a hosted version to evaluate usage and measure cutbacks on travel to be able to create a business case for on-premise deployment.
Organizations having trouble creating a compelling business case for on-premise UC deployment can utilize a hosted solution as they evaluate which UC components to bring to the organization. When choosing hosted UC offerings, cherry-pick the components that clearly deliver value, and take it for a test drive.
