Assessment Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Assessment Management - Case Study Example Initially when application deployment used to take place in most companies, the process was a long, tedious and expensive one. Not only would it consume a lot of resource, it could also take years and end up producing unsatisfactory results. Instead, today more and more companies are opting for software as a service option. There are various other benefits of using the SAAS model. It ensures accuracy of data and information recorded and conveyed around. Because, the responsibility of the application is outside the company it alleviates the management of the need for more corporate applications. (Laudon K) While the companies benefit from low cost of implementation of this model, there are some disadvantages that vendors might face. First of all the investment of the vendor can be heavy. He has to build an entire network infrastructure through which the application has to be hosted and delivered. He will also have to ensure that the application is available at all times, it is secure and ensure privacy of customer related information and lastly, ensuring that users have access to latest releases of the software. These aforementioned issues and their solutions are not only time consuming but also costly. Q2: What are some of the challenges facing Salesforce as it continues its growth? How well will it be able to meet those challenges? Sales force faces many challenges. The biggest challenge for the company comes in the form of its competitors. It has to counter the influence of its competitors who are on prying Sales force’s success and trying to replicate it. Some of the bigwigs in the industry who have tried their hands at it include Microsoft, SAP and Oracle. Each of the aforementioned companies has taken out their own subscription based models of the CRM. Then there are smaller companies like Net Suite who have also tried their hands in this market. Industry analysts have already predicted that Microsoft could deride the sales of Salesforce but provide them stiff competition through their available on-demand CRM product. This is because Microsoft has an already established customer base and it would be offering the product at half the price of Salesforce.com. The second challenge that confronts Salesforce is expansion into new areas. It needs to explore and develop business products for other areas as well. The third challenge that Sales force faces is availability. The success of Salesforce depends on its ability to satiate its customers by ensuring that the software is available at all times i.e. 24*7. It will be quite a challenge ensuring that the software is available at all times. Salesforce is keen on countering the challenges it is faced with. It has partnered with Google Apps and is using its services of Gmail, Google docs; Google Talk and Google Calendar to assist its customers accomplish more tasks through the internet. The partnership is also going to act as a buffer to counter Microsoft and both companies are hopeful that it will further galvanize the growth of this on demand software. Another big step to counter challenges is the introduction of Force.com application through which its customers can download above 800 software applications. Qs 3: What kind of businesses could benefit from switching to Salesforce and why? Small and Medium line business can draw a lot of benefits and advantages from switching to Salesforce. This is because these businesses have a huge dearth of resources, capital and