Research Forum

September 26, 2011

SaaS or Software as a Service “is a software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider and made available to customers over a network, typically the Internet.” (1) I researched two companies that use SaaS and are extremely successful and they are Salesforce.com and Verizon.

Salesforce.com is a company that provides different services to help customers and employees build a stronger relationship and connect easier.  Salesforce.com uses SaaS for a number of reasons a few of these are “High adoption, lower initial costs, painless upgrades and seamless integration.”(2) Having lower initial costs are very important in this economy because many people are out of work and cannot put extra money towards fees, this a simple but very beneficial attribute.

Verizon’s new “Asset Assurance Service includes device-monitoring, alarming, fault isolation, root-cause analysis, service-level reporting and IT service management to help corporate customers quickly pinpoint the cause of problems in their private IP networks.”(3) Verizon is obviously a very successful company and having them join the SaaS service really says a lot about it. Whether it is a small company or large firm they can benefit by using Verizon business assurance service. Having software to protect your company and make it easier on them is what a company needs to do and SaaS service provides these benefits. SaaS benefits Verizon because it “Enables customers to provide a high level of IT service performance and availability, Monitors health of network devices, Helps you align IT operations with business service delivery and management requirements and Three service options to meet your budgetary requirements.”(4)

An article written by Jimmy Duan explains the challenges when using Software as a Service. “The most critical issue to address is a lack of trust between customers and their vendors. Without a strong relationship between both parties, it is difficult for SMBs to get the long-term values from the SaaS model.”(5) Technology is tough sometimes on customers because you feel like you’re not close to your vendor. A SaaS vendor must make sure to stay loyal and close to their customers in order to receive a high renewal rate and make money in the end. (5)

 In order to approve SaaS service they need to come up with a plan to ensure that your applications will never be lost. If your SaaS provider goes out of business so does your application. They have to come up with a way to save your application even if something happens to the provider.

Work Cited

 1. "What Is Software as a Service (SaaS)? - Definition from Whatis.com." Cloud Computing Information, News and Tips - SearchCloudComputing.com. Web. 26 Sept. 2011. <http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/definition/Software-as-a-Service>.

 2. "What Is Software as a Service (SaaS) - Salesforce.com." CRM, the Cloud, and the Social Enterprise - Salesforce.com. Web. 26 Sept. 2011. <http://www.salesforce.com/saas/?fromSearch=true>.

 3. http://blog.connectedplanetonline.com/unfiltered/2009/05/20/verizon-uses-saas-to-offer-private-ip-network-management/

 4. http://www.verizonbusiness.com/resources/factsheets/fs_verizon-asset-assurance_en_xg.pdf

 5. Duan, Jimmy. "SmartBiz.com: Small Business Resources - Overcoming SaaS Challenges." Small Business, Information, Resources, Articles - SmartBiz.com. Web. 26 Sept. 2011. <http://www.smartbiz.com/article/articleview/1589/1/42>.

Hardware and Software

September 20, 2011 

If a small company wants to extend the use of information systems into the mobile regime of work than the answer for them is mobile apps. It is 2011 and most businesses today revolve around technology. Whether it is a small business or a large corporation everyone is trying to get an edge on there competitors by finding the newest technology and attempting to innovate it in there business strategy. Mobile apps are becoming a very convenient way for business owners to advertise, sell, and purchase items. “For the iPhone there are over 425,000 apps available,” and many businesses are starting to get apps themselves. (1)

 For example there is a coffee shop in London called Urban Coffee Company, that started out very small and almost got knocked out of business. They had to come up with a way to innovate new technology so that customers would be attracted to there coffee shop rather than Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts. Urban Coffee created an app that allows customers to order drinks, food etc, and they have the coffee ready by the time they get there. This was a great way to get back on there feet and customer feedback was very satisfying for them. (2)

Technology innovation is the key for a small company to compete or even grow. There are a variety off apps that small companies can benefit off of such as the “Square app which allows customers to pay by scanning there iPhone, Turbo Scan app which allows you to use your smartphone to scan documents, business cards, receipts etc.” Mobile apps will never stop improving and people will never stop creating new apps. Businesses can definitely benefit from apps and it makes it much easier to get feedback from customers. “Ubers social app allows companies to control twitter accounts in order to get feedback from customers and update new items on their market.” Whether people like it or not the world now revolves around technology and you must accept it especially if you are a small business trying to grow. Put some money into technology such as apps and try to stay ahead of other corporations because the business world is extremely competitive and if you get lost behind it is tough to regain strength. (3)

 Work Cited

Phin, Christopher. "How Social Apps Help Small Firms Compete with Global Brands."Www.techradar.com. Future. Web. 20 Sept. 2011. <http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/how-social-apps-help-small-firms-compete-with-global-brands-959059>.

"IPhone - Learn about Apps Available on the App Store." Apple. Apple. Web. 20 Sept. 2011. <http://www.apple.com/iphone/apps-for-iphone/>.

"The 16 Best Mobile Apps for Small Business — Firmology | Small Business Innovation." Firmology | Small Business Innovation — Firmology Is a Small Business News and Information Media Company Focused on Innovation. 26 July 2011. Web. 20 Sept. 2011. <http://www.firmology.com/2011/07/26/the-16-best-mobile-apps-for-small-business/>.

Value Chain Tasks

September 14, 2011
My new Internet site that’s buys and sells used music would use the value chain. I would have to start out with what I had personally which would be some old cds and maybe what some friends can give sell me. I would definitely start out by losing money because I need products to sell in order to get this business going.  Then I would put them up on my website and wait for customers to start buying. Production will then increase once I am able to have money to buy cds and then sell them. Once my company grew I would get some friends to help me out with my site to make it grow and stretch out so I can increase production. Once a customer buys a cd from me I will have a billing page and have it shipped out to them with a small shipping charge in order to gain profit. The storage of my product would start out in my house but eventually business will increase and I would have to purchase a place to store my products. 

Information systems

In this generation information systems play a huge role for almost any type of business. Whether it is a large corporation or just a small company in one way or another information systems are involved. Technology will never stop advancing and it is hard for many companies to keep up with these changes so it forces them out of business in most cases. Many small companies that we once used very frequently are being forced to close down due to technological advances and it is a shame. “In this information-centric environment, companies do not become competitive just by amassing physical capital: they must make investments in systems and technologies that maximize the value of their information assets.” Having the most up to date technology is important because it gives your company the tools that are needed to compete or beat out competitors. (1.)

            There are many types of information systems today such as “management information systems, transaction processing systems, decision support systems, executive information systems,” and so on. Today, it is very hard to run a company without these information systems. Input and output from clients or other businesses relies on information systems, executive decisions, and even financial issues would be almost impossible to operate without information systems. New high tech systems are helping companies make more money by bringing in more clients because with all these informations systems companies are able to store more data and are able to stay in touch with the clients. (2.)

            Information systems today cannot only improve the growth of a company bit it can also save lives. Information systems in hospitals are growing rapidly and health care technology is improving all the time. “Specifically, information technology healthcare systems improve the quality of healthcare for patients. Information technology healthcare also prevents medical errors. That could save lives.” Healthcare is very important and information systems are improving hospitals, decisions made by doctors and errors have decreased a good amount since better technology has been used. I visited my doctor not too long ago and he was using an ipad to write out prescriptions now if that is not more convenient I don’t know what is.(3)

Work Cited

1.     "Information Systems in Business Today." Management Information Systems. Web. 14 Sept. 2011. <http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~cba/ids/IS-business.html>.

2.     “Information Systems." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 14 Sept. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_systems>.

3.     "How Information Technology Healthcare Systems save Lives." Think First | Improving the Delivery of Healthcare. Web. 14 Sept. 2011. <http://www.thinkfirst.us/lower.php?story=information-technology-healthcare-systems>.

Systems

The Information system that I chose is Laboratory Information Systems. They have a product out called the polytech. Polytech is an information system that makes lab work so much easier.  “Polytech help make the process of getting lab orders from the clinician and getting results back into the patient’s Medical Record, one fast, easy, efficient, completely traceable electronic process that saves time, reduces cost, minimizes effort and eliminates potential for error and billing oversights.” They are hoping that polytech will be the information system to cure diseases and cancers. Laboratories all over America are now using polytech because of the amazing results. This is a big step for labs because making it easier on the workers and having the capability to find new discoveries will hopefully result in curing diseases and saving thousands of lives.

This information system certainly inputs, processes, and outputs information in order to get feedback from customers and other labs. Scientists are able to input there findings and information and while it processes through the polytech it is able to output the information to anyone or any lab throughout the country. It is able to receive feedback also so it is a component that will increase productivity and make is easier for labs throughout the entire country. Feedback is the key for this whole process to work because without communicating with other laboratories and comparing information there would be no result and the information system would be obsolete. Polytech can also handle financial concerns for labs it will handle billing problems by storing everything needed and keeping it organized this will result in less errors and happy customers.   

Work Cited

"Health Care Information Products(Hospital Information System( HIS), Laboratory Information System(LIS), Radiology Information System(RIS), Computed Radiology(CR), Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS)) Elan Vita Diagnostic Solutions." Health Care Information Management and Technology Elan Vita Diagnostic Solutions. Web. 14 Sept. 2011. <http://www.elanvitadiagnosticsolutions.com/products.htm>.