VALUE PROPOSITION


Aplicor Difference

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SaaS Value Proposition

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SaaS VALUE PROPOSITION

The SaaS (Software as a Service) value proposition replaces the financial, staffing and IT (Information Technology) equipment barriers associated with conventional licensed and client/server CRM solutions. Compared to licensed software solutions where the required implementation, continued staffing and quickly depreciating equipment generally cost 3 to 6 times the CRM software investment, the SaaS model's subscription pricing and hosted delivery provide a superior offering for a very small fraction of the investment.




Subscription Pricing	Hosted Delivery	Outsourced Expertise

There is no longer a legitimate need to invest in high- cost, high- maintenance, quickly depreciating business software systems. Aplicor's subscription pricing model removes the up- front capital investment and financial barriers required of sophisticated CRM software systems by delivering the software on a pay-as-you-go basis, achieving a short implementation period, and offloading the hiring of IT staff, support resources or other personnel.	Hosted software delivery can be ideal for the organization that wants to focus on core business activities and rid itself of system administration and IT management required for CRM software and enterprise business systems. State of the art data centers, expert information security resources and round the clock support professionals are hosting advantages not otherwise available to most organizations.	Aplicor's hosted delivery removes operational distractions such as IT staff to hire, train and retrain; capital expenditures for software, hardware and support services; technology lock-in and obsolescence; fluctuating Internet bandwidth and backlogged or over-budget IT projects. Hosting customers are able to focus on the execution of their business strategy and customer-focused processes, and are not diverted on the issues of maintaining computer systems.

FINANCIAL VALUE PROPOSITION

As any consultant, analyst or company who has previously implemented traditional licensed and client/server software systems will attest, the most significant investments for conventional CRM systems are the costs for implementation, training, maintenance, hardware, staffing, customization and/or integration. These post-software procurement costs are often not fully recognized until after the software procurement and are often referred to as the 'hidden costs'. Most analysts indicate that the ratio or relationship between hidden costs and software investment is at least 2 to 1 (e.g. for every dollar spent on software license, two dollars will be spent on hidden costs) and often 4 to 1 or higher. Several analysts firms have used the ice berg analogy when describing licensing software systems; meaning that most of the required investment is below the waterline where it is not easily seen.

The Aplicor CRM solution is best received by organizations that choose not to incur capital expenditures to procure sophisticated CRM systems, a comparable amount for implementation consulting fees and the additional recurring costs for the IT and support resources. By reducing the initial and recurring out-of-pocket investments in favor of predictable payments, Aplicor clients' take advantage of higher-end CRM software with predictable cash flow requirements which eliminate over-budget situations. Aplicor's CRM application suite puts in place the commercial solution for organizations to conduct customer-facing business expeditiously and within their preferred procurement and operational terms.

HOSTED VALUE PROPOSITION

Software application hosted delivery provides several strategic benefits.

Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
- Hosting clients forego the initial purchasing of software, hardware and support services in favor of renting their CRM software and IT infrastructure on a pay-as-you-go basis. Hosting clients also forego the recurring cycle of upgrading and replacing hardware and software each year as new computing power makes old hardware obsolete and software upgrades are required to achieve fixes, take advantage of new functionality or continue to receive vendor support.
Reduce Implementation Time & Cost
- Hosting results in significantly reduced implementation costs. The software is already loaded on high performance hardware and state-of-the-art data centers. With our existing pre-configured and production ready network, hosting clients eliminate application software installation, relational database installation, network operating installation and most hardware environmental issues. Further with our proprietary use of pre-configured implementation templates, we can accelerate the CRM implementations in order to get to a working system faster and cheaper.
Turn Variable Costs Into Fixed Costs
- Hosting clients turn otherwise variable costs into predictable monthly payments. SaaS solutions provide customers expert IT staff and a fixed monthly expenditure over a multitude of otherwise variable and uncontrollable expenses - including implementation costs, hardware costs (including break/fix, upgrades and maintenance), software costs (including point release updates, new version upgrades, bugs and user assistance), recurring labor costs (such as systems administration, network support, DBA, user support and troubleshooting) and more and put them into a predictable and fixed monthly expenditure. This long term cost predictability enables strategic IT planning and spending without unscheduled and costly surprises.
Reduce IT Salary & Management
- Hosting clients forego the need to employ DBA's, system administrators and IT management related to CRM and business software applications. More than just a payroll cost, hosting CRM applications also eliminates the recruiting, hiring, management, continued training and personnel issues associated with additional IT labor resources. Ever increasing and changing technologies make it extremely difficult for organizations to efficiently staff the many professionals required to successfully operate an effective enterprise systems environment.
Focus on Core Competencies
- Hosting allows an organization to focus on managing and growing their business and relieves them of day to day IT troubleshooting or distractions. Having IT experts outsource the information systems frees internal management and resources for the company's strategic projects and offloads a function that is constantly changing and difficult to manage.
Achieve On-Demand Scalability
- Hosting provides unlimited growth and scalability. Our hosted solutions can provide on-demand scalability as your company grows, without you having to invest in advance in hardware and platform devices. There's no unnecessary investments if you don't require the hardware performance you originally forecasted.
Advance More Strategic IT Projects
- Hosting clients achieve more strategic IT initiatives. Many organizations spend as much as 80 percent of their IT budget on maintenance costs, including hardware, software, upgrades, and IT support. With no hardware or software procurement and IT labor outsourced and bundled into the software subscription price, SaaS can dramatically lower or reduce maintenance expenditures thereby reallocating IT budgets away from maintenance and toward value-added company technology initiatives.

PURCHASE OR RENT?

We all recognize that technology information systems are an indispensable asset to maintaining a competitive position. However, ownership of outdated, inefficient or understaffed information systems can quickly become a corporate liability of considerable weight. Enterprise software systems and high performance hardware platforms require continual investment, constant upgrades and around the clock attention. Even then the obsolescence factor is guaranteed and the value of the software and hardware is less than the investments anticipated life and value reflected in the balance sheet. With the fast pace of technology advancement, you don't get value by owning the technology, you get the value by using the asset. When considering your CRM software purchase versus rent procurement decision, the basic recommendations of procurement and finance apply - if something appreciates, buy it. If it depreciates, rent it.

BUSINESS FINANCE 101: When something appreciates, buy it. When something depreciates, rent it.
INFORMATION SYSTEMS 101: Computers and software only depreciate.