Cloud Computing and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

Have you heard the phrase ‘Cloud Computing’ or ‘Software-as-a-Service’? Did you wonder what it meant and how it might affect your business? Tricostar specialise in providing cloud computing and software as a service, or SaaS as it is known, to a huge range of corporate and Public Sector Clients.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted IT applications over the internet. Tricostar take care of the IT while you take care of business. All you need is a PC and an internet connection to work. And with 71% of small businesses not having an in-house IT person, cloud computing allows you to access the latest technology with ease.

Tricostar were one of the first companies to offer hosted applications to government departments for cloud computing. All our customers soon realised the benefits of this new way of working and continue to enjoy reliable systems that can be accessed from anywhere in the world. The London Borough of Ealing saved over £50,000 in their first year of going to the cloud – Read their story here.

System upgrades take place remotely and even training can be delivered over the internet. Reducing the carbon footprint and working around your schedule.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

Software as a Service – SaaS is software applications developed by Tricostar in a cloud environment currently using the Windows Azure platform. It gives our clients access to government applications which they pay for on a consumption basis only.

Tricostar’s first product to be delivered on the software as a service – SaaS model is Timebase247, 100% corporate web-based time recording in the cloud.

Click the links to find out more about Windows Azure and Timebase247.

Timebase247
Click Here for more details

Security

Data stored in secure, well-protected data centres is likely to be safer than information on your laptop or a server in your office. Vendors have a big stake in keeping intruders out, viruses down and data backed up and the expertise and resources to do it.

Cloud computing also makes your business more resilient. For example, if you lose your PC, you can just login from another computer and carry on working. All your data is stored ‘in the cloud’ and not on the missing computer.

The Key Benefits

• Reduced Costs
  Paid for incrementally and scaled to your requirements. Lower set-up costs.
• Increased Storage
  The right amount of storage is allocated to you. And can be increased at any time.
• Secure
  The latest technology is in place to ensure all your security requirements can be met.
• Stay Current
  Software upgrades are done remotely at times that suit you. If on Windows Azure they are seamless with availability 24/7.
• Mobility
  Work from anywhere in the world over the internet.

Tricostar provide 100% Web-based applications to the government and have been since the year 2000, years ahead of our closest competitors. We now host applications for over 7 local and central government departments and this is rapidly growing as customers realise the potential savings involved.

Related Articles:

Socitm: Cloud’s more revolutionary than the PC
“The advent of cloud computing could have a greater impact on public-sector IT than the PC revolution did in the 1980s”
By Tim Ferguson, silicon.com, 24th February 2009
Society of Information Technology Management
Source: ZDNET UK – Read the full article.

G-cloud Would Help Government Save
The annual Westminster IT budget is more than £15bn but the coalition could reduce this by moving the public sector on to secure clouds
Jemima Kiss, guardian.co.uk, 21st June 2010
Source: guardian.co.uk – Read the full article.

Government To Set Up Own Cloud Computing System
UK cloud computing strategy could save up to £3.2bn a year, says Cabinet Office
Charles Arthur, Technology Editor, guardian.co.uk, 27th Janaury 2010
Source: guardian.co.uk – Read the full article.