PC Mag has an article entitled Don’t Trust the Servers that talks about the dangers of putting your data at the mercy of the servers of another. The second page of the article is the bit that rings true for me.

ASP/ Apps on Tap/ Software as a Service models have great advantages to users, and have been growing in popularity. One thing that has always bothered me though, is what happens if the service is suddenly not available for some reason – such as the vendor going out of business. If that service is a critical one for your business, it could be a disaster.

There are ways to deal with that however, such as arranging for a local copy of the data. The right solution will vary in the circumstances.

I have always thought this issue has held back the popularity of such services for the business market. On the other hand, many users don’t even consider this. I am helping a potential user of such a product negotiate an agreement with an asp at the moment. As part of its diligence, my client talked to other users of the service – none of whom had even considered the issue!

To put it in perspective, take a look at this quote from the article, where the author speculates the sales pitch if ASP’s were the norm first, then desktop apps came along.

You can image the advertising push. “Now control your own data!” “Faster processing power now.” “Cheaper!” “Everything at your fingertips.” “No need to worry about network outages.” “Faster, cheaper, more reliable.” On and on. I can almost hear the marketing types brag about how much better “shrink wrap” software is than the flaky online apps. The best line for the emergence of the desktop computer in a reverse timeline would be “It’s about time!”

Read the PCMag article