Rush to the cloud
There seems to be a flurry of media postings from content management software (CMS) companies announcing their plans for the cloud. Recent articles posted in TechCrunch and CMS wire discuss Alfresco’s proposed move to the cloud. One of the main points articulated was that by going to the cloud, Alfresco, can now compete with Dropbox and Box.net in the consumer market.
Alfresco’s announcement is puzzling and inconsistent with the core service that a CMS provides. CMS is more than just file sharing. True CMS delivery encompasses building a corporate intranet structure that allows your employees and clients to engage with each other and create a web portal to publish their content.
This leads us to ask: Is the cloud rush part of an overall strategy to better serve the CMS clients? OR is it just a reactionary measure in response to third party offerings from Dropbox and Box.net?
Let’s investigate and properly define the cloud concept a bit further.
Not all cloud is SaaS
First, we want to emphasize our support of cloud infrastructure and believe in its potential for bringing improved business efficiency to all enterprises. Through the cloud, applications are made accessible from the Internet. Generally, this reduces overhead costs, allows sophisticated customization and personalized software backup.
The cloud, however, is not the only ingredient that led to Dropbox and Box.net’s success in their niche market. Rather, these services implemented a SaaS (software as a service) model, which operates in the cloud. The benefit of this delivery method is a fixed, low-cost, easy-to-use solution that is affordable for consumers and small businesses. Rather than individual customization, consumers are afforded the same type of services, updates and features.
By providing the same set of features to all customers, the cost of these now indispensable online services remain low. A purely cloud solution (non-SaaS based) cannot compete because its structure is built to support customers one at a time. In other words, the features developed in the cloud are customized to one particular customer and are not available across the board to other clients. This is a critical point that differentiates a cloud solution from a SaaS solution. Both exist in the cloud, but it is their delivery from the cloud that makes all the difference.
CMS is more than file sharing
This now brings us to our original purpose - Alfresco’s plans to go to the cloud. The two articles suggested that this is part of Alfresco’s strategy to compete with DropBox and Box.net, both of which are purely file sharing services. Does that mean that Alfresco -just wants to be a cloud file sharing solution as well? Also, the cost factor of implementing an open source solution such as Alfresco in the cloud is not truly reflected in either of the two articles.
The expenses of operating in the cloud as well as the open source attributes of Alfresco, which are well known to result in high implementation and IT costs, are not the best cost effective solutions for small and medium businesses, and certainly can not compete with Dropbox or Box.net pricing plans.
Thus, we are left puzzled by the Alfresco’s general strategy for getting into the cloud.
CMS market is suited for SaaS model
The CMS market for small and medium businesses (SMBs) is mature. Organizations are seeking a product that is cost-effective, easy-to-use and supported. This holy trinity of features is well suited to SaaS-based model delivery in the cloud. Currently, the estimated value of serving the SMB market is said to be worth $14 billion in the United States and Canada (see previous article) and growing.
Readyportal offers a SaaS based software that is rich in features and addresses the needs of the CMS market. Our software offers a fixed price, superior user interface especially when compared to open source software, and around the clock support. Its ease of use makes it accessible across all business departments thus increasing efficiency of your business.
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