|
. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Solving a Problem Using ASP Hosting
|
|
The Company and the Problem
|
|
TGC is a supplier of a wide variety of products
to the real estate industry. They were a subsidiary of a large
Midwestern privately owned company. When it was announced that they had
been sold to a multinational Fortune 10 manufacturing firm, TGC needed
a new business information system.
The TGC line of business was different enough from their new parent
that they could not use their new parent's systems. The company also
had a critical need for new functional capabilities to meet their
evolving business operating needs. Their business model was changing
significantly due to competitive pressures.
They had gradually been moving away from performing their own
production to becoming a subcontracting business. Their new operations
involved receiving orders, consolidating the order demand, identifying
the appropriate supplier sources, and issuing daily purchasing orders.
They wanted all of these operations set up to run on a fully automated
basis with the goal of shipping completed products quickly.
They also needed to completely rework their credit and shipment
authorization procedures to fit their new parent's financial control
requirements.
To make the situation even more complicated, the new parent's capital
budgeting and IT acquisition process was not geared to quick analysis,
decision, and demand fulfillment.
The company's IT department (and their outside consulting firm) knew they were in a challenging position.
|
The Selection Process
|
TGC quickly put together a Request for Proposal
(RFP) document outlining their existing system capabilities, new
functional requirements, and their very aggressive time frame. This RFP
was distributed to a large number of software suppliers. Several
potential suppliers responded with functional solutions that appeared
as if they would fulfill their needs. However, the time frames and
costs proposals for the modifications and enhancements did not fit
their schedule or their budget.
We proposed an Application Service Provider (ASP) hosting solution.
This did not require any up-front payments or capital expenditures, and
could deliver the needed enhancements on schedule and within their
budget. Our proposal also showed a significant cost and time advantage
for their implementation support needs based on our multimedia training
system and the immediate availability of Internet-based support help.
The contract was signed with the committed delivery dates included as
part of the contract, and the implementation started immediately.
|
Using an Application Service Provider
|
|
The company, as well as their new parent's IT
management, had a number of concerns about using a hosted ASP system
for their corporate-critical data. These concerns focused on the
following issues:
Security - was their data secure? Was it being properly administered,
backed up, and archived in the event of system failures? Was the
transmission of data (including credit card information) safe from
being captured and exposed?
LAMAR Software went through a very thorough security review process
with both TGC and their parent's IT management. This review included
detailed descriptions of the data administration, encoding, and
security control processes.
TGC and their new parent's IT department were both satisfied with the
high level of security that LAMAR Software provides with ASP hosting.
Dependability - What was the guaranteed performance of the hosted
system? Was there a guaranteed uptime level (for example, a 99% uptime
level)? What was the data communication response time over the Internet?
The SLA guarantee has never been violated. In fact, there was
absolutely no interruption of performance for almost 14 months until
LAMAR took the primary servers down on a Sunday for some upgrades.
Internet communication is notoriously variable. It is subject to
multiple communication jumps during times of high usage. TGC did not
want to implement a more costly solution such as a Virtual Private
Network (VPN) which would have provided a more manageable communication
environment.
LAMAR's small encapsulated data packet and very thin client
architecture provided a workable and acceptable solution for this
problem.
The ASP Hosting Total Cost - LAMAR worked with them to determine the
approximate historical number of transactions and set a flat monthly
fee that was suitable for their budget. This resulted in a
significantly lower total annual cost for their IT needs.
After the system had been in live use for about six months, the parent
company's IT management wanted to reduce the bandwidth demands on their
corporate Internet access. They asked all of their subsidiary
operations to reduce their access needs. TGC was dependent on the
Internet for their information process, so it was a difficult task for
them to reduce their access. Also, they did not have the IT resources
or capital budget to set up their own servers in-house.
LAMAR discussed this problem with TGC and came up with a totally new
program called "In House Hosting." LAMAR supplied the company with a
LAMAR-owned server within their headquarters facility and continued to
provide systems administration via the Internet and also via dial-up
communications. LAMAR continued to guarantee the same uptime
performance and communication response times. There was no capital
expense for the company, and the only additional IT operating
responsibility they assumed was the performance of daily database
backups.
This "In House Hosting" process was so effective, and solved such a
level of concern about ASP hosting, that LAMAR has included it as a
standard offering. TGC then decided to exercise their right to convert
from a monthly fee usage plan to an unlimited use perpetual license.
This was done immediately and the company no longer pays monthly
license fees for use of the system. They continue to operate on the "In
House Hosting" platform, with LAMAR Software providing services as
needed.
|
The Results
|
TGC considers their use of the LAMAR Software
ASP hosting service very successful. It filled their functional needs
more quickly than any other hardware/ software solution and was
significantly less expensive.
The ASP hosting option provided them with the flexibility to
accommodate their business transition, and reduced their needs for
technical IT staff and expensive infrastructure.
|
|
|
[Back to Top]
|
|
|
