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.

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!

The term “managed services” has become widely used as more companies and small and medium sized businesses are looking at IT outsourcing for more efficient network management and operations. MSPs have played a key role in helping businesses succeed by allowing them to focus on the core business, while they take care of managing and monitoring networks.

The MSP market has become highly competitive and retaining customers has become quite a tough job at hand.With each MSP having a diverse customer base and different service requirements, they are trying to adopt the latest technologies to offer value-added services to keep their customers satisfied.

One of the technologies that MSPs seems to have be readily adopted is “remote monitoring”.The preference for “remote monitoring” services comes as no surprise as the scalability, quicker-to-market and affordability factors make it quite an enticing option for MSPs.

One such “remote network monitoring” service is OpManager On-Demand that allows MSPs to remotely monitor their customers  networks 24×7 over the internet. It requires no additional infrastructure or installing of complex software, largely reducing overhead costs and enabling faster delivery of the service. OpManager On-Demand is also highly scalable, so MSPs can scale across multiple networks without having to worry about availability issues.And proactive monitoring ensures reduced downtime they will be able to detect and correct IT issues instantly, before they impact the network.

OpManager On-Demand will be the right choice for MSPs who are looking for an affordable and effective network monitoring service that will enhance customer satisfaction and might just give them a edge over their competitors.

This video was a forward with the following subject

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKV0QuQsonk

Recession has a lighter side too!! The above is just one of the many gags on recession that seem to be doing the rounds. Be it the media or the web or just a casual talk with a friend, everyone seems to be taking a dig at the recession "thingy"(that's what one of my friend's called it).

While many see a lighter side, companies offering cloud-based services are seeing a brighter side to recession. Being less expensive, faster and as capable as the traditional software package models cloud-based services are increasingly gaining popularity.

Enterprises who are surviving the economic crisis have tightened their leash on IT spending.With reduced budgets and emphasis on savings, they are turning to cloud-based services such as OpManager On-Demand.

ManageEngine's OpManager On-Demand is a hosted remote network and server monitoring solution that allows you to monitor your networks in real-time. With hosted services like OpManager On-Demand, enterprises do not have to deploy additional infrastructure or maintain software, as it is all taken care of by the company offering the service.

So what's not to like about a cloud-based service? It reduces costs, saves you time, as you can get started almost immediately, no maintenance is required and is also very affordably priced. Seems like moving to the cloud is a wise thing to do in times of recession.

Although the security of data for cloud-based services is a much debated topic, the lower costs and ease-of-use offered by them is a very feasible proposition for enterprises, especially with the economic recession. Currently, they are turning out to be a breath of fresh air in an otherwise bleak economic environment.