When the unique need for purpose-built applications or custom solutions arises, there is usually a choice between creating the application from the ground-up internally – “build it” — or leveraging partners and off-the-shelf technologies to mitigate cost and delivery risk – “buy it”. And regardless of the ‘build’ or ‘buy’ decision, companies have traditionally been required maintain the IT infrastructure of their custom-developed applications.
In the past, technical intricacies, network and bandwidth constraints, and the effort involved with internally deploying and maintaining software and hardware has made it difficult and expensive for enterprises to build and deploy purpose-built applications and custom solutions. And for most organizations, evolving requirements and the need for security and scalability add cost and complexity.
With the rise of broadband Internet, cloud technologies, and big data techniques, companies finally have an alternative. Now, they can leverage platform-as-a-service (PaaS) models and partner networks to develop, deploy and maintain solutions built on highly scalable shared infrastructure and proven code bases.
The PaaS model has flourished in recent years for custom-developed enterprise solutions because of the benefits that it brings to businesses of all types and sizes. Here’s a few of the main reasons that organizations are increasingly adopting such solutions:
- Lower Delivery Risk. With proven codebases and scalable architecture, PaaS gives predictability to your custom solutions. Furthermore, teams who repeatedly build solutions around the same technologies tend to get better results, more efficiently.
- Lower Costs. Custom-developed applications built on proven platforms have lower start-up and deployment costs. And, with partner-sourced solutions, the underlying code and IT infrastructure is maintained and managed by the service provider – and that means lower ongoing costs for software, hardware, and personnel needed to manage it all.
- Better Adoption. Our custom applications are deployed on the cloud, where they can be accessed anytime, anywhere, from any computer or device. Because people have web-browser software installed on their devices, and because they are familiar with using the Internet, our purpose-built solutions have a lower learning curve — and therefore, lend themselves to higher rates of adoption.
- Painless Upgrades. Because we manage all software updates and upgrades, our customers do not have to download or install any updates or patches, nor do they have to buy any new hardware. We also manage availability, so as your user base grows, there is no need to deploy additional add hardware, software, or bandwidth.
- Easier Integrations. With a proven platform as the basis for your next custom-developed application, you get access to APIs and webs services that let you integrate with your existing ERP or other systems. With pre-built interfaces to move data into and out of your custom solution, you have the freedom to link systems of your choice.
- More Reliable and Scalable. Solutions built using our proven platform are engineered specifically for high availability, scalability and security. World-class data center partners and optimized data management means that your data is available and can scale to thousands of users and tens of millions of records.
- Proven Infrastructure and Security. Behind it all, we have the highest levels of attestation — so you don’t have to worry that your data is safe. With procedures for data protection; application security; physical, system and environmental controls; availability and performance monitoring; and more – it’s hard to achieve this level of security unless your business is to build, host and manage cloud-based software.
Why Platform-based Solutions are Popular with Enterprises
The popularity of platform-based solutions is growing because it simplifies deployment and reduces cost. Enterprises can support many different kinds of users with a single product. This “multi-tennant” approach enables customers to scale as quickly as needed — without adding or replacing hardware infrastructure or adding IT staff.
Why Platform-based Solutions are Popular with IT Departments
A recent survey by Forrester Research found that IT professionals are looking to hosted SaaS products as a way to offload development and maintenance of their systems. Plus, flexible and scalable pricing model means that IT budget costs are consistent or lower than with homegrown software.
In other words, cloud-based custom applications allow organizations to more with less — and do it cheaper and more predictably, as well.
Have questions about how the Experiture platform can enable your next custom solution or application? Contact our solutions team today for more information.
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