How to Run Your Software? In-House vs. Online vs. Outsourced

Outside Information

• CIO.com: The Truth About Software as a Service (SaaS)
• E-Commerce Times: The Rise of SaaS and Your Regulatory Risks
• Simple Spark: Discover, share and enjoy web apps for your life online. A catalog of web applications for business and other uses.
• Wikipedia.org: Application service provider
• Wikipedia.org: Cloud computing
• Wikipedia.org: Managed service provider
• Wikipedia.org: Software as a service

Related Tips

• Tip 1 - Online and Outsourcing Starter Questions

  When evaluating an Internet Service or a Managed Service Provider, here are some possible starter questions.

  Business Questions

  • How long have you been in the current business?
  • How many employees do you have?
  • Do your employees go through any screening?
  • Do you have SAS 70 certification?

  Technical Operations

  • Do you have your own data center or do you contract with another business?
  • Where are the data centers located?
  • What is the maximum uptime?
  • What do you guarantee in your Service Level Agreement (SLA)?

  Security

  • What security measures do you use for your data center?