Anatomy of a SaaS Vendor: Identifying the Key Components and Choosing the Right Partner

Many companies have stepped into the new technological world of cloud-based applications, and this powerful tool is no longer relegated to the IT department.  More than 50% of all users are turning to this type of computing for brand management and other business priorities, and their numbers are growing rapidly – in fact, Business Wire reported in June 2013 that 75% of surveyed businesses use a cloud platform of some kind, and the usage increased dramatically in 2013, up from 67% in 2012.

When you're considering cloud-based software for your own company's product approvals and digital asset management needs, it's an exciting, paradigm-shifting process: you're changing the way your business does business for the better. Selecting the right product and vendor, though, can mean the difference between a successful transition and greater productivity -- or a daily exercise in frustration.

Over the next 10 weeks, we'll be digging deeper into the question of evaluating the most popular type of cloud computing programs, SaaS (Software as a Service), based on their reliability and fit to your business.  We'll explore a variety of best practices for identifying and leveraging the best-in-class vendors and applications, that, well-executed, can positively improve business performance.  Applying these tactics can help to avoid the significant financial, operational, technical, and legal risks which you might confront if you pick the wrong vendor.

A great deal of the initial information-gathering that makes your transition smoother is just a matter of asking tough questions of potential vendors early on.  Some of those are questions like these:

• Does the vendor have the financial strength to weather downturns or other unforeseen risks, or are they one lost customer away from being unable to pay their bills?
• Where are their offices located and can you visit them?
• Are their developers in-house or outsourced, domestic or in a high-risk country?
• How does this vendor address information security?  Do they have an Information Security Officer or other evidence to show you that security is a priority?
• Is the vendor a leader in the space?  Will they disclose their client list or other data to prove their market position?
• If things don't work out for any reason, what happens to your valuable data and assets?

How to find answers to those questions?  Let us help.  This blog series, “Anatomy of a SaaS Vendor,” is intended to offer experience, analysis, and advice on the thorough evaluation of cloud computing licensors in multiple categories.  Having found your own answers to each question, you and your team can come to the best possible decision for your business.

MyMediabox is a leading provider of SaaS hosted applications for digital asset management and style guide delivery (Mediabox-DAM), product approvals and other creative workflows (Mediabox-PA) and deal memo management (Mediabox-DM).  For more information visit us at www.mymediabox.com

Cloud Security

Some of you may have noticed already that the address bar is a little more crowded in your web browser when you are on your Mediabox websites versus most other sites. Once you hit the "Login" page you will find that the address starts with HTTPS instead of HTTP. What does the extra “S” stand for, besides “spiffy," “splendid," and “spectacular?" Well, in this instance it stands for “Secure." Let me ‘splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up…

Just like on financial websites run by banks and websites approved to process credit card transactions, Mediabox protects all the information sent between your web browser and our servers using the HTTPS protocol. That means the data is encrypted (encoded) so that only the sender and the receiver can unscramble the data, and anyone in-between will effectively know only what webserver IP address you are connecting to and how much data you are sending and receiving, but have no idea what the data actually is.

Why is that important? Well, for starters, it means as your project data travels across the internet nobody else can tell what that data is, so your attachments, digital assets, comments, and other confidential information is kept private. Very private. It also means that your login data, including your email address and password, are securely encrypted the same way, so your internet provider, the people down the street on the same cable or fiber run as you, and Bobby next door who has hacked your wireless home network still can’t get at your data when you connect to Mediabox.

Most browsers now also add a little padlock icon or add a colored area displaying the name of the SSL certificate in the address bar when you have made a secure connection. Yes, that takes up a little more room, but it is meant to grab your attention and let you know something is special about the website. You can watch for the changes by just typing in the address of your Mediabox website, and the moment you click the “Login” button you will see the HTTP change to HTTPS at the very least. Once you see that, all the data sent between your browser and Mediabox is secure. It’s just our way of helping our customers sleep a little better at night.

For more information about MyMediabox visit us at www.mymediabox.com. Click here to schedule a demo.