Are your confidential web applications hosted properly?  Here is a list of common issues that can be avoided by hiring an Application Service Provider that specializes in hosting critical and confidential applications.

• Accidental data loss caused by in-house IT staff being unfamiliar with a vendors application
• 24/7 IT support is not offered/available
• Maintenance downtime during the day caused by in-house IT staff being unavailable after hours
• Disaster Recovery plans missing
• Disaster Recovery testing lacking
• In-house IT staff denying accountability
• Third party IT audits skipped because of the high cost associated with a single organization being audited
• Insufficient infrastructure (lacking generator, redundant Internet lines, air conditioning, secure facility)
• Permanent archiving issues or neglect including missing encryption of offsite storage
• Data mirroring unavailable

The above issues are mitigated by going to an Application Service Provider because of the economy of scale that such a provider has.  For instance, it is easy for an Application Service Provider to justify a third party audit because the audit covers hundreds of servers instead of just a small number.  Similarly, it is justifiable for an Application Service Provider to have 24/7 IT staff because they are supporting thousands of users instead of just a handful.

If an organization doesn’t mind the risk and headaches associated with the issues listed above, outsourcing to an Application Service Provider is probably the wrong move.  However, I am yet to see a customer who liked downtime, was happy when tech support was unavailable, and could care less when an entire day’s data was lost.

My point is not that in-house IT staff lack skill.  My point is that in-house IT staff do not have the resources at their disposal to support a vendor’s application as well as the vendor can. 

For those not in the technology world, here is another way to look at this.  Given that two auto repair shops charge the same hourly rate, that one repair shop specializes in GM cars, that the other specializes in Ford cars, and that both repair shops state they work on all models of cars.  Would you take your GM car to the one that specializes in Ford cars?  Or would you take your GM car to the one that specializes in GM cars.  Ideally, you would take your GM car to the one that works with GM cars 8 hours of every day.  You would end up paying less and getting a better product because the GM shop knows your car better than anyone else.

If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me by commenting on the Global Vision Technologies Blog.  Either I will get back to you, or someone at Global Vision Technologies will get back to you.  If you have questions about Global Vision Technologies, including questions about the software that we create or the hosting that we provide, please use the contact us form to reach out to us.