July 17, 2009, 12:53 PM — The demands on corporate IT departments have never been higher than they are today, prompted by the worst economic downturn in 75 years, globalization, niche marketing, a mobile workforce and other factors. Just when IT has become absolutely critical to the world’s new, nimble business models, IT departments have found themselves hobbled by a number of pressures, not the least of which is more employees needing to exchange more information back and forth among more locations.
Cost pressures
The current economic environment is forcing corporations to slash budgets; and IT, like most departments, must do more with less. IT managers find themselves compelled to demonstrate ever greater returns on existing investments before management will consider additional resources.
This trend is reflected in sales of on-premises software, which the research firm AMI Partners expects to grow at just a single-digit pace through 2013, while the sale of more cost-efficient SaaS applications are anticipated to increase by double-digit percentages. Adoption of SaaS applications among midsize companies is particularly strong, according to AMI. In fact, Gartner projects that the global enterprise market for software-as-a-service will rise by nearly 22 percent in 2009 alone as companies turn to hosted applications to reduce capital costs during the economic downturn.
Digital content creation remains one of the fastest-growing SaaS segments, with SaaS delivery of content, communications and collaboration applications expected to generate $2.5 billion in 2009, Gartner reports.
Impact of a distributed workforce
Globalization requires IT to distribute and troubleshoot software updates and new applications anywhere in the world, on a 24-hour schedule. With limited resources, IT personnel constantly are diverted to put out technological fires in the headquarters suite and field offices. As a result, SaaS adoption has become more widespread out of necessities, with adoption fastest, according to Gartner, among distributed workforce teams and within Web 2.0 initiatives.
Rogue data transfer
Users are seeking ad-hoc solutions, which drain IT resources and put data security at risk. With user demand outpacing the company’s willingness to put additional technology in place, employees are adopting ad-hoc software or other file-delivery methods that generate potential data breaches while degrading the IT department’s ability to track, trace and audit files. A Palo Alto Networks study charting 900,000 users on 60 large corporate networks found that users on 92 percent of the monitored networks used P2P software, and users on 76 percent used browser-based file-sharing and cloud-storage tools.
Couriers and FTP—Problems, rather than a fix?
Staff members regularly resort to copying large files onto discs and delivering them via expensive and slow courier services. In 2006, more than 650 million envelopes containing CDs and DVDs were sent via overnight courier, an agonizingly sluggish and costly method in a world operating at digital speed.
Some IT departments have attempted to patch the problem by creating an FTP site. However, the department must train internal and external clients to use FTP, manage access to the site and ensure its security, with more opportunities for breaches to occur in the network as individuals outside the company are added.
For their departments’ own productivity, IT managers are searching for a replacement for FTP sites and a way to stem the e-mail burden that necessitates ever more servers, storage, maintenance and power costs. For the users in their organization, they want a file-delivery method that is easy to operate, easy to deploy and easy to manage. Many are turning to SaaS-based file delivery solutions. They offer nearly instant return on investment, since no software needs to be purchased or installed and costs of courier services are eliminated. Bounce-back of e-mail attachments come to an end, and managers no longer must invest unproductive time in FTP training and administration.
Not all digital file-delivery services are alike, however, and IT professionals should apply a set of standards to the solutions they consider to ensure they select the most useful, secure, dependable, convenient, flexible cost-effective and compliant system for their needs. The following eight criteria can prove useful during the evaluation process.
Eight Criteria for Evaluating SaaS File Delivery Solutions
1.Flexibility and Assurance: The ability to transmit digital content in all formats and sizes. The service should also verify the delivery of every file with receipts and automate this process to provide the business with a way to ensure compliance with regulations impacting publicly held companies, healthcare organizations and other organizations transmitting sensitive files.
2.Ease of use: A digital file delivery method that is powerful, yet simple to use, requiring no special training. It should also be easy for customers and other external users to employ while communicating and collaborating with the company.
3.Workflow integration: A service that is available directly from the productivity and professional tools of business users, becoming part of the natural, everyday process of the user’s workflow and activity. An effective file delivery system should be available not only from the Web but also directly from computer-based applications and the desktop.
4.Branding and Personalization: A service that can carry the branding of the business that is using it and is personalized to the company’s needs. It should appear to be part of the company’s own processes, not an add-on or standalone application.
5.Proven Technology: A technology that is robust and proven and that has been widely adopted both in the marketplace and within the company infrastructure.
6.Security: A service that employs highly secure protocols, with encryption and password protection for users to securely stores files between transmissions. The service must also protect the privacy of transmitted files in compliance with governing regulations.
7.Scalability, Reliability, Availability: A system that is easily scalable, reliable and widely available through the Web, with 24/7 access anywhere around the world to meet the needs of global companies and independent professionals. The service must have a record of near-perfect uptime and should operate with several networked data centers so that files are backed up in separate locations.
8.Minimal costs: No hidden costs or overhead. Beware of companies that draw you in with a reduced monthly cost only to hit you with additional hidden charges for bandwidth and storage. Select a service that can grow with you. Businesses should pay for only the level of service they need and not be required to buy, install or maintain software. The user should be able to take advantage of the best level of service for his or her business and then grow to higher service levels as the business becomes increasingly successful and larger.
SaaS file delivery solutions are rapidly becoming integrated into the work processes of all types of businesses. Conducting a thorough evaluation of the solutions being considered can help assure that these processes yield increased efficiencies.
Ranjith Kumaran, CTO, YouSendIt
