Saas and Freemium – great options, beware of the pitfalls.
It’s all the rage at the moment to sign up to all the free services on offer.
FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Apps, EverNote, etc…
Like everything in this world – there is ALWAYS a cost. These days, it usually involves handing over personal information used to target ads.
Whilst these services are great – especially if you are just starting out in business and trying to keep your costs down, there are downsides.
1. Virtually all these services are ad supported and the model is if they cannot reach a critical mass, they cannot attract advertisers to pay for the service.
2. How easy is it to get your data out of their “silo”? – as an example, try to export your friends out of FaceBook (they won’t let you)
3. Support – if there are issues and you have made the service central to your business, how do you get it fixed.
4. Granting ownership of data. Did you know uploading a photo to FaceBook grants them a worldwide, irrevocable right to use the image in any way they see fit.
5. Data Laws – Most countries state that the country your data is housed in under the under the laws of that country.
NOTE: The US-PATRIOT act means ANY US service is under the laws of the USA no matter where in the world the data is held.
Add a comment to the blog article if you have answers to the following questions.
What Freemium products are you using – have you upgraded the the paid version?
What paid Saas products are you using – are they value for money?
Site Specific Browsers (SSB) – handy if you keep dozens of website tabs open!
An SSB, like what can be created with Fluid is a browser that only shows one site – iTunes is a perfect example of this .
The iTunes store is a website created using WebObjects that is ONLY viewable via iTunes.
If there are several websites you alway have open, Like Google Apps, Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, you have probably experienced the dreaded browser crash that takes out ALL your current websites. With a SSB, each website is a separate program, so a crash on one website does not affect any other.
Contact us if you would like to see a demo…
Hi David – you’ve made some great points that we often overlook particularly around ownership of data.
Look forward to reading more!
Thanks for the comment.
Most businesses hold data on behalf of clients – whether it is emails, files, media etc.. You have to make a decision not only for your own needs, but that of your clients.