Comments on: Is Web-based/SaaS Software Right for Your Practice? http://www.softwareadvice.com/medical/is-software-as-a-service-right-for-your-practice/ Free advice on selecting medical software. Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:31:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Don Fornes http://www.softwareadvice.com/medical/is-software-as-a-service-right-for-your-practice/#comment-321 Don Fornes Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:32:15 +0000 http://www.softwareadvice.com/medical/?p=3#comment-321 @tn26: That is a good question and one we hear a lot. It's bad news when a software vendor goes out of business, regardless of whether the product is SaaS or traditional on-premise software. In the case of SaaS, it is important that you verify what contingency plans a SaaS vendor guarantees in their subscription agreement. The vendor should provide a straightforward data export capability so that you can export your data at any time. Given that almost every system is built on standard relational databases, this is not a difficult facility to provide. The vendor should also have an arrangement with their data center that ensures that the system remains up and running for a period of time after they close their business. That way, customers will have adequate opportunity to export their data and work with a new vendor to get back up and running. Vendor failure is a very difficult situation, but we believe that the challenge is the same regardless of whether your system is SaaS or on-premise. @tn26: That is a good question and one we hear a lot. It’s bad news when a software vendor goes out of business, regardless of whether the product is SaaS or traditional on-premise software.

In the case of SaaS, it is important that you verify what contingency plans a SaaS vendor guarantees in their subscription agreement. The vendor should provide a straightforward data export capability so that you can export your data at any time. Given that almost every system is built on standard relational databases, this is not a difficult facility to provide. The vendor should also have an arrangement with their data center that ensures that the system remains up and running for a period of time after they close their business. That way, customers will have adequate opportunity to export their data and work with a new vendor to get back up and running.

Vendor failure is a very difficult situation, but we believe that the challenge is the same regardless of whether your system is SaaS or on-premise.

]]> By: tn26 http://www.softwareadvice.com/medical/is-software-as-a-service-right-for-your-practice/#comment-314 tn26 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:35:05 +0000 http://www.softwareadvice.com/medical/?p=3#comment-314 What if the vendor goes out of business? What will happen to your patients' data? What if the vendor goes out of business? What will happen to your patients’ data?

]]> By: Sylvia http://www.softwareadvice.com/medical/is-software-as-a-service-right-for-your-practice/#comment-167 Sylvia Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:14:47 +0000 http://www.softwareadvice.com/medical/?p=3#comment-167 One question about long-term pricing parity. It seems like there would also be money saved in lower IT maintenance costs with a SaaS. For example, not having to maintain servers, etc. Are SaaS fees still about the same long term as having a client/server system when you factor in IT costs? Also who actually stores the data when using a SaaS? Are there additional data integrity issues? One question about long-term pricing parity. It seems like there would also be money saved in lower IT maintenance costs with a SaaS. For example, not having to maintain servers, etc. Are SaaS fees still about the same long term as having a client/server system when you factor in IT costs?

Also who actually stores the data when using a SaaS? Are there additional data integrity issues?

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