Print Management Blog
Fri, 13 Feb 2009
Web based systems are hosted by the provider of the software, in layman's terms this simply means that there is never anything to install on any computer. It means that any PC with access to the internet will be able to use the software.
A lot of systems claim to be 'web based' or 'web enabled', but they only mean once their software is installed on PCs and Servers alike. This comes at a cost.
With a true web-based system there is no need to upgrade your existing PC. Upgrading an existing office network of PCs is something that is often ignored when people are budgeting for non web based (or sneakily named 'web enabled') software.
Since real web-based systems only require access to the internet they are cross platform compatible, so the system will be available on Windows, Linux, Mac OS or any other operating system. Web-based software is supported and maintained at the providers end and therefore less money is being spent on IT. With true web-based software there is no need for monotonous nightly backups, tedious reconfigurations and time-consuming updates, as all of this will be done for you.
All data will be real time. Meaning that everybody within your company, no matter where they are based, will be working on the same live database. Also customers and suppliers will have up-to-date information on everything that you choose for them to be able to see. This can mean inventory level views, the progress of current orders, and a view of all past orders available to them 24 hours a day all through secure portals.
Information is available all day every day, no matter where you are.
Even if you are on the move and access the system via a laptop or mobile phone all the data will be as up-to-date as the information that you would see if you were sitting at your desk in the office! Any changes that are made to the system anywhere will instantly be available to anybody accessing the database.
Security is another major benefit of web based software. Typically people working in any company will need to store or move data around, however by using systems that are based online these processes can be consolidated and therefore reducing the need to move or store data. With web based software data can be filtered so people only see what they need to see (or what you want them to!)
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