Business Today, May 2005

The concept of remotely hosted software application services has come to Oman

In a first for Oman, IT services company Bahwan CyberTek LLC has tied up with customer contact services firm Infoline LLC to launch business process management services on the application service provider (ASP), model in the country.

The ASP service will be hosted by Infoline. It will enable customers to use IT applications for various functions like human resources management, financial accounting, sales force automation and purchase and inventory management without actually having to buy the software packages. All that they will have to do is pay a monthly license fee.

“The software rentals model is particularly suited to small and medium enterprises and startups that are looking to deploy IT applications in their companies,” Shantanu Sen Sharma, chief operating officer, Bahwan CyberTek said at the launch of the service.

Already in vogue in other parts of the world the ASP model of IT application deployment means reduced support costs for the user clients, pay per use or subscription-based price flexibility, continuous access to upgrades and the ability for the users to run the product from anywhere.

The Infoline service will be integrated with Bahwan CyberTek’s comprehensive enterprise solution, Cuecent ESS (enterprise software system) that is based on the Business Process Management System (BPMS) which is seen as a revolutionary development.

“As a start to our business process outsourcing initiative we are confident and excited over this new strategic tie-up which further reinforces the strength in the coming together of two leading solutions providers in the region,” said Sameer Gupta, vice president, Infoline. “We have a good feel of the market from our current operations and we expect a good potential for Cuecent ESS in the manufacturing, retail and service industries in Oman,” he further added.

Infoline will be the exclusive distributor for the product, which is already being used by several organisations like the TRA, Ministry of Justice and BankMuscat.

Remote Hosting
The ASP model of service delivery is extremely appealing to small businesses and startups as

• It can drastically lower the costs of software
• The ASP owns and operates a software application
• The ASP also employs the people needed to maintain the application
• The ASP makes the application available to customers everywhere via the Internet
• The ASP bills for the application either on a per-use basis or on a monthly/annual fee