Steve Eppinger, founder of cloud-based vehicle asset management solution Ownersite.com, announced that fleet managers implementing the firm's software are reporting substantial reductions in migration time and effort compared with premise-based applications, plus beneficial decreases in personnel expense associated with premise-based data security, backup and recovery.
"Prior to implementing Ownersite.com, we used our reservation system to store maintenance records," said Daniel Sutich, VP of Montvale, New Jersey-based Perfect Limo Service, Inc. "We exported our data into an Excel spreadsheet, and using Ownersite.com we were able to import it quickly with no problems. It saved us from having to enter four years' and 30 cars' worth of data."
"Fleet managers are reporting times of as little as an hour to migrate their data to Ownersite.com from their existing platforms," said Eppinger. "Furthermore, Ownersite.com maintains all its data – more than 200 million miles of fleet maintenance records -- on secure, cloud-based servers that adhere to the strict PCI-DSS standards originated by credit card providers to ensure application integrity and data security. As a result, our clients no longer have to worry about securing, maintaining or backing up their data in the office.”
These findings dovetail with a 2011 report sponsored by the Society for Information Management's Advanced Practices Council, which found that top vendors of Software as a Service (SaaS; where businesses access applications remotely over secure Internet connections) incorporate best-practices backup, security and recovery procedures with their solutions, often giving them the edge over many SMBs' on-premise software installations.
A parallel study by the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University found that the 'monthly fee for full access' approach of SaaS solutions such as Ownersite.com enables SMBs to save money through reduced capital and maintenance expenditures. "For SMBs in the 5-99 user segment, cloud-based solutions offer greater savings," said Greg Potter, Research Analyst with In-Stat. "There is no software to license and you only pay for what you use."
Enterprise-grade functionality and ease of use are added benefits companies gain when using cloud-based solutions such as Ownersite.com. "We found Ownersite very easy to use," said Sutich. "The reports are much more comprehensive than with our old software."
While Ownersite.com adheres to best-practices standards for SaaS solutions, Eppinger warned business owners that not all SaaS solutions are created equal. SMBs should ask tough questions of any prospective vendor, he noted, including whether or not automated backup and recovery are included with the fee and whether the solution is designed for easy migration, setup and use. "SMBs just starting with SaaS—especially those who don't have in-house IT staff—should look for products that offer clear and easy migration, setup and training paths," Eppinger said.
