Michael Coté of RedMonk provides a good analysis of IBM Tivoli Live, an on-demand IT management system, launched last week. Apparently, IBM wants to target and serve the 'smallish and the mid-market' with this offering, adopting SaaS as the delivery model and pay-as-you-go as the pricing model. The intention is great and it clearly validates SaaS as a viable alternative to traditional IT management software.

But, is the mid-market looking for SaaS only because of the buzz around it ? I bet not, they care about SaaS only because it promises substantial savings in cost and effort and ultimately provide them a good ROI. With any SaaS service the expectations are,

• No capital expenditure. Dont want to lose anything if I choose not to use the service after the first month
• Affordable, pay-as-you-use pricing model
• Less or no expertise required for service setup
• Better still, outsource IT management to MSPs with some local overseeing

Now, compare this to some interesting facts from Coté's analysis of IBM Tivoli Live :

• There’s a one-time $6,500 setup fee per customer
• $58 per managed service per month (with an agent in the device) and an additional $14 per managed service per month for reporting (a managed service is a server, network device, application, web service)
• Installs should be “available for use in less than 7 days"

This makes you wonder if IBM understands the mid-market expectations, after they seem to have finally realized their existence. The one time setup fee or $72 per month to monitor a Linux server or a '7 days' consultancy project just for software installation are not what the mid-market wants to hear. It is not entirely clear if the IBM Tivoli Live offering will also target MSPs serving SMBs and the mid-market, even if they did, not sure if the MSPs will appreciate justifying a even higher price point to their customers.

The cost for managing 500 devices through agents with reporting (can a management system be useful without any reports ?) works out to be a whopping $36,000 per month or $432,000 per year and an additional $13K as one time setup fee. May be it is much lower than IBM Tivoli's usual costs of the traditional systems, but still is way out of range of mid-market expectations.

Compare this to ManageEngine OpManager On-Demand which is currently in beta. When the service goes live it will be at an all-inclusive price tag of $5 or less per device per month, with absolutely no setup or one time fee. Whats more, the service will support both businesses to manage their own IT infrastructure and MSPs to manage their client's infrastructure. Simple to setup and get going and 15 times cost effective than IBM Tivoli Live.

Nevertheless we, at ManageEngine On-Demand, are very excited that IBM has entered this space making it clear 'SaaS for IT management' is here to stay.

How long have you had to wait to get an appointment with your doctor? A day? A couple of days? A week?

The demand for healthcare services is growing at a spiraling pace and  in order to capitalize on the huge demand, hospitals have branched out to deliver services to an increasing number of patients. But with limited professional labor available in the industry it is making it all the more difficult for hospitals and medical institutions to cope with the demand.

The healthcare industry is now seeing a huge potential in IT to help them meet such overwhelming demands. Emerging IT applications provide professional networking that enables integration of the clinical care process management and provision of web-based health and patient information. IT solutions have become important in helping hospitals maintain and gather, transmit, store and retrieve data and other medical related information from across various branches. This helps hospitals save valuable time and also reduces labor for an already under staffed industry.

But running an efficient data network is not enough, it needs to be backed with a reliable network monitoring service. There is a vast amount of important information that flows across branches and hospitals need to be able to manage the information load, while ensuring that the network is always up and running. So how does one keep a constant check on the network that spans across all the branches, ensure optimal uptime and availability and keep a check on network faults?A network monitoring software would do the trick. But if a hospital has many branches it would turn out to be time consuming and costly, since the software needs to be installed at each location with additional infrastructure. It would also require hiring of additional IT staff to  monitor the network at each branch,leading to additional expenses.

This is where remote network monitoring services such as ManageEngine's OpManager On-Demand will make it more convenient for hospitals to monitor their networks. They provide 24/7 proactive monitoring of networks, to maintain and support the network and IT infrastructure. Also, all networks can be monitored from a centralized point allowing better control of networks and eliminating the need for hiring IT staff at each branch. Using a remote network monitoring service will result in reduced costs and optimal network performance. It will enable hospitals to concentrate on delivering effective healthcare without having to worry about network problems.

Although the use of IT in the healthcare industry is yet to gain prominence, adopting new technologies will help to efficiently deliver services and reduce costs. The healthcare industry is one of the fastest growing and with the increasing demand they need to take a good look at new technologies and the sooner they adopt them the better!