Why rent access to Software instead of buy?
4th February 2013
Cloud technology isn't something you can easily escape at the moment when talking about IT Support and services, and there's no doubt that our customers ask us all the time whether cloud computing is for them.
It's fair to say that "Cloud" is a bit of a misused term, and now seems to extend to just about any "hosted" or "as a service" type scenario.
We already offer our Agility Desktop and Agility Mail Cloud services to customers throughout Devon & Somerset, and integral to that is a change in how you think about software.
Renting E-Mail instead of buying Servers & Software?
Let's start with e-mail. Historically, if you wanted "Business Grade" e-mail (such as that including full calendaring, tasking, contacts and collaboration features), you had to have a server with software such as Microsoft Exchange. Most small business customers used Microsoft Windows Small Business Server to do this. Getting started with this is expensive, you need servers, software, and realistically someone with good IT knowledge to set it up and maintain it.
With Agility Mail, the hardware is no longer your problem, as we provide and maintain, secure and backup the systems for you. The software is now rented to you, month on month, allowing you to just get on with your business with simple, budgetable costs. Renting your e-mail service is a very popular choice, and it's no real surprise that this is our most popular Cloud technology product.
How about Office applications - like Word, Excel etc?
The cloud revolution makes it more feasible than ever to offer products such as Microsoft Office. You may have heard of services like Office 365 - a microsoft "own effort" product. Our customers take the Agility Desktop service, combine it with Agility Mail and get a complete, small business service.
Instead of having to buy Microsoft Office, and without needing to install it on each computer, you get a way to run Microsoft Office software, save to central file storage for security, backups and of course ensuring colleagues can access your documents. Best of all because you're renting access, you'll receive new versions as part of that service, you haven't got to buy any servers, think about backups or worry about infrastructure at all.
Renting the software as part of a managed service like our Cloud Agility Desktop makes sense because:
- You can avoid huge capital expenditure associated with buying servers and one off licenses for software products such as Microsoft Office, Windows Server and Microsoft Exchange
- The rental charge for our services includes Backup of your E-Mail (Agility Mail) and Documents (Agility Desktop/Agility Desktop Web Files).
- You can use our Hybrid Cloud Web Files Service so existing users and those needing/wanting office installed locally can still collaborate and save centrally
- New versions are included as they're released, tested and deployed to you
- As you add staff, you start renting additional licenses - without the need to go to major expense each time.
- Using Agility Desktop, there's no need to install Microsoft Office and you can move more freely between computers and devices such as Tablets.
At VPW, we believe customers should choose the right technology for them - if Cloud Services and Software Rental make sense, we're happy to offer this to you, but if you'd prefer or think On-Premises and Purchased software are more sensible for you, we're happy to help you - call us on 01392 950 950 to discuss your requirements.
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