“SaskTel Managed Hosting
gives me the security, service
scalability and innovative
pricing that allows me to
reallocate resources for
future development of R&D.”
SaskTel Managed Hosting for ASP’s
BACKGROUND
CGIS Spatial Solutions of Perth, Ontario, provides geographic information
systems services primarily to small and mid-size municipalities. “It’s computer
mapping with attached information,” says Jim Peden, president of CGIS. For
example, if a resident phones town hall to complain about late garbage pickup,
a town employee using CGIS could key into his computer the complainant’s
address and immediately determine the delay is caused by road construction due
to sewer repair. “He instantly knows more about the complainant’s property and
neighbourhood than the complainant,’’ says Peden.
As an Application Service Provider (ASP), a company whose software services
can be accessed via the internet, CGIS offers solutions to municipalities unable
to secure the significant funding required for an in-house solution, which would
include an upfront investment in software and hardware, as well as ongoing
maintenance costs.
CHALLENGE
Peden’s product and business model are new. It was not enough to
explain to potential clients how his internet-based service works and
why it represents such significant cost savings over in-house solutions.
The bigger challenge was to persuade them their data would be safe
and secure.
“We had to convince people that we handled data well, that it was
secure and that we had professionals doing the work,’’ says Peden.
He had to find a safe, reputable and credible host, and one that
offered backup and restoration services as well as 24/7 access to data.
SOLUTION
After discovering other enterprise hosts only wanted to deal with large
corporate customers, CGIS outsourced the hosting portion of its service to
SaskTel. Peden says SaskTel Managed Hosting provides the security, service
scalability and innovative pricing that allow CGIS to reallocate current resources
for future development and R&D. “