For most of us, it still customary to have all the applications we need and use installed locally on our personal devices. Everything from document and spreadsheet applications to programming and designing tools are, for the most part, used by clients who install them on their computers, laptops or mobile devices.

That was the past. Now, with technology moving towards the Cloud, we have applications that can be installed in virtual servers that can then be accessed by users all over the world. And it’s not just individual users who are opting for these kinds of applications. Businesses, big and small, are warming up to the idea and shaking themselves free of the traditional way of doing things. They are shutting down their servers and locking their server rooms for good as they realize there is an easier, and at times, much cheaper way of using corporate software.

Definition

Application hosting is a service provided by business with the aim of providing IT services to their clients over a network (usually the internet). The software and/or applications that are hosted with these service providers can be used for anything from customer relation management (CRM), location intelligence or mapping to simple data input applications.

What are the Advantages?

Businesses that have applications hosted in the Cloud can expect to gain many advantages; significant among them are:

Distributed Applications – a business that needs to reach as many of its customers as possible can do so by putting an application in the Cloud so they can access it from anywhere in the world. It can be accessed from any spot in the world where a decent internet connection can be maintained. This gives businesses a truly global presence.

And it’s not just clients that can work with these applications; the businesses’ own employees who happen to be on field assignments can also feed their input into one single, central system. This brings us to the second advantage…

Centralized Data Systems – no longer is it necessary to receive data from separate input devices, applications or systems and then strive to convert and feed it all into the main corporate database. Everyone, using it from anywhere, can input data directly without having to worry about conversion and integration.

There is no time wasted collecting data from separate desktops and laptops, there is no data loss due to inability to convert it into the required format or it being stolen due to lax security measures taken by individual system users.

Real-Time Access for Everyone – it can safely be said that all the users that access a hosted application are all on the same page and have the most up-to-date information at their disposal. This helps everyone, from managers – who can find out where their businesses stand at any given moment – to field personnel who can make decisions based on the latest intelligence.

Low Operation Cost – a typical business IT unit consists of hardware, software, staff and lots of overhead. They all cost money to run, maintain and upgrade. In these times, when businesses seek ways to cut their expenses, it is one of the first places that budgeting is pointed at.

Hosted applications offer businesses a great way of reducing their expenses. They don’t need to worry about server upkeep, they don’t need to hire staff to keep it all together and they also don’t have to worry about licenses and keeping their software patched and updated – it is all taken care of by the service provider. Businesses need only provide their employees with a device that connects to the internet and has a web browser – that’s it. In rare instances, there may be a requirement to install thin-client software, but that is still much cheaper than having to pay license fees for each desktop application.

Businesses keep their Eyes on the Ball – businesses that can’t afford to lose focus of their main business process will be happy to shed the burden that comes with running an IT department. They can stick to what they do best and let the experts handle the running of the back office applications.

Increased Security – it might seem a bit odd to say that trusting the security of one’s data to a third party increases its security, but in this case it really isn’t odd at all. Like the point made above, application hosting providers are good at what they do. They know how to take care of data and network security. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be in the business.

Ease of Scalability – the biggest advantage to using Cloud software is that they are easily scalable. Whether it is the business adding new ventures and modules or the data it is processing increasing because of a growing clientele base, hosted applications can be customized to accommodate the new system requirements.

Overall, hosted applications are the way of the future of application use and it is time businesses started looking into this new way of doing things – it is worth their while.