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careandfeedingofyourlmssystem
set-up process. A client simply has to answer a list of questions to go live. Everything else is handled by software or the vendor's personnel.
installation fall as much as two years behind in applying software patches and system updates released by vendors. With a cloud solution, vendors provide those updates and patches on a monthly basis. Thus, SaaS eliminates getting locked into an old and unsupported release. Translation? Ultimately, you're working
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with a better, more enhanced product from a functionality standpoint, as fixes are done for you automatically. You never have to think about an upgrade. You don't have to reestablish your integrations, retest all of your content, or as is the case with pharmaceutical companies, revali- date your content when you apply the updates and fixes.
Maintenance and Update Services - It's not unusual to see an onsite
having to move to a newer version, that requirement is much easier to handle. What does "reduced work" mean? Well,
perhaps to move to the newest version of your LMS, there is an associated require- ment for your entire enterprise to move to a newer version of Oracle, one of the underlying database platforms used by some LMS vendors. If the installation is managed by your team, that means talking with your I.T. people to see how complex that change would be for your entire enter- prise. You may even be asked to absorb some of that cost in your budget, as the I.T. department may not have that effort
funded in this year's budget. With a cloud LMS solution, that associat-
ed implementation work transfers to the vendor, which moves the platform to the newer Oracle database, and that part of the problem disappears from the work equation.
dor is managing the servers, clients are allowed to expand and contract with their business cycles. For instance, let's say that you're a large tax preparation enterprise, or a software vendor that makes new
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Seasonal Training, New Product Training, Scaling - When the ven-
By using a
private cloud solution,
customers may
be relieved of as much as 90% of the workload."
By using a "private cloud" solution
instead of a "public cloud" where the bulk of SaaS customers may reside, vendors can relieve customers of as much as 90 percent of the workload. Thus, the fear of not being able to customize a cloud LMS for your enterprise has been greatly reduced. You still have to stay reasonably current in your release maintenance schedule — probably within a four- to six-month time frame — but with the reduced work associated with
28 November / December 2011 Government Elearning!