VSc Expands New Markets with 7globals hosted Software as a Service Option

SaaS offering enables VSc to offer enterprise class software to small businesses at a very affordable entry point.

7global, the Managed Services Company, has today announced the continued success and growth of its 6 year old partnership with supply chain ERP specialist, VSc, as its hosted software-as-a-service offering enjoys positive take up.

Recognising that many of its potential customers had little or no existing IT infrastructure; had legacy IT systems that would be expensive to replace; or viewed supply chain management as a non-core business activity, VSc decided  to investigate offering a hosted, pay-per-use software-as-a-service option to make it easy and inexpensive for new customers to invest in its solutions. 

By offering customers the chance to spread payments for their software over long periods of time, while letting someone else own, run and manage the applications and the supporting IT systems, VSc would be able to address organisations IT budget restrictions, while removing the maintenance and administration burden, plus the need for customers to invest in their own computer infrastructure.
7global was recommended to VSc by IBM. 7global offered much more than a hosting service where a software provider merely rents the use of a remote hosting companys data centre space, where it then houses its IT systems.

We wanted to be able to offer our software-as-a-service, which meant the customer wouldnt need to have their own IT infrastructure, but could simply access the functionality they needed on a per-seat per-month usage basis, explains Trevor North, Operations Director at VSc.  Just as our customers didnt want to have to worry about anything that was going on behind the scenes, neither did we.
VSc sought a truly managed service therefore - where the host company would look after all infrastructure-related issues, from network performance to anti-virus protection and other security measures. 7global looks after all of that for us. They have all the security we need its like a wall around 7global so its something we dont have to think about, Trevor adds.

Many companies offer co-location services, where we can put our equipment on their racks and where it would be managed for a fee, but with 7global we dont actually own any of the equipment, which gives us lots of flexibility and scalability, Trevor explains. 7global owns everything, so all we have to concern ourselves with is our software. This means there are clear lines of responsibility, too we manage the applications for our customers, and nothing else.

Today, VSc has over 220 users procuring their software on a pay-per-use basis, only one of the clients being an existing VSc customer. While wed like to think we would have won the other clients business anyway, the ability to offer the software-as-a-service made the job of selling the solution much easier. Offering software-as-a-service via 7global means we can offer enterprise-class software to businesses with just 5-10 users, at a very affordable entry point.

The SaaS model clearly represents a new and compelling sales opportunity for software vendors and VSc is a perfect example of how markets can be successfully expanded by offering customers new ways to buy software. added Martin Walker, 7globals director of Marketing and Alliances. We are delighted to work closely with vendors like VSc and boost their market penetration and competitive edge with a fully hosted SaaS delivery model..