Last time we discussed how hosting can affect software upgrades. Today we'll look at what happens if there is some disruption in your software vendor's business.
You've been happily using your Web 2.0 productivity application for months, and your workgroup has come to greatly depend on it. All of a sudden, there's some major disruption in the application vendor's business. Now what?
What do we mean by major disruption? The company may have simply run out of money, and can't afford to keep the lights (or their website) on anymore. They may have been forced for some other reason, such as legal action, to cease operations. The company's investors or management, seeing it not meeting their expectations, may simply decide to cut their losses. If you're using an application from a larger company, where that application is just one part of their entire business, they may for various reasons decide to abandon it and focus their energies elsewhere.
The company may get acquired; remember, for most startups, which are the main vendors of Web 2.0 applications, this is in fact their primary goal and focus, as opposed to old-fashioned notions such as profitability or building a sustainable business. This may be a good news scenario, where the new owner really helps to push things forward. Or, despite the glowing press release, the acquirer may have purchased the vendor to take its product in a different direction, to kill off the application but leverage the underlying technology for another product, to acquire the vendor's staff, or to shut down a competitor.
For self-hosted Web 2.0 productivity applications, this is pretty much the same risk that you have to weigh with any software purchase. In the short-term, your concern is whether or not you can continue using the application. Generally this will be the case, but there may be some applications that "phone home", either for some critical piece of frequently-updated data, or to check licenses. What happens to them if the vendor's server that they're trying to reach isn't there? Over the medium term, is there a specific deadline you'll need to be aware of, after which the application will cease to function? An application sold via subscription may be programmed to automatically "drop dead" if not updated at the end of the subscription term. And longer term, if you need to transition to another solution, will this be possible? If you can get by not taking your data with you (it may be important, but is out of date and replaced quickly) this may be less difficult. Otherwise, you'll need to consider the same issues raised by backups, of getting access to all your data. As well, you'll need to know if you can do anything with the data after you have it, for example whether it is stored in a closed proprietary format, or one that is more open or can at least be converted for use by other tools.
All of these issues equally apply to vendor-hosted applications. The main difference is that you may have significantly less control of the timetable. If the vendor's web site completely shuts down on the spot, you're obviously out of luck then and there. What would the consequences of that be on your group's work? If notice is given that the site will be shut down in for example one month, there's increased pressure to accelerate a transition, that may greatly impact existing projects.
Next time: Pricing and more
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