April 10, 2008

Hosted Applications In Real Life

SmartMoney has a nice story about how small businesses are using hosted applications. Sometimes when you read other people's experience with something, it helps you, as a small business owner, know how to use it or not use it for yourself.

The articles reads Trelstad also found that getting various programs to talk to each other can be tough. As a result, she suggests looking for programs that are compatible. For example, she was delighted to find that FreshBooks works with Basecamp. She adds that you might also consider the compatibility of the application with your web browser. When she wants to use QuickBooks Online, for example, she has to switch from Firefox to Internet Explorer.

For these reasons, Peter Marston, an analyst at Forrester Research in Foster City, Calif., says businesses that use SaaS sparingly will benefit the most. "For some organizations that want to streamline their headcount and cut costs, they will go for SaaS in pinpointed areas," he says. For instance, a business might want to try out SaaS to manage content like electronic documents or handle administrative tasks such as payroll or bookkeeping, he says.

Read the full story here.

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