Ken Nangle Consulting believes that what was once considered fairly radical is now ordinary. Moving from the current desktop/server to a completely browser based business system IS possible and driving the cost to as close to zero is achievable. The costs will not be zero to be sure, but comparatively close considering the current cost model. Operating your business entirely on the Internet securely and reliably is achievable, available and practical to the small and mid-sized company. But why would you consider such a move? First, let me be clear - I am not talking about e-commerce. I'm talking about your back office applications, both off the shelf and custom (accounting, line of business applications, productivity, email, scheduling, etc.) Of course, e-commerce can and perhaps should be done by your company, but it will be covered in a different blog entry. Think about the times your IT consultant has told you "you need to upgrade your server hardware and/or software." Now think about the cost associated and the business interruption of doing a "conversion." It shouldn't be to difficult to think of one or a few disastrous moments. Finally, extend that thought to your phone system. I'm virtually certain that if you've been in business for more than a few years that one or more of these system failures have happened to you. The result is a natural reluctance to go through the experience again, distrust of the basic components (software and hardware) and, after thinking about the consultant fees, a tendency to minimize the chance of it happening again. To me, that sounds restrictive and limiting. How do you grow, add capacity or new functionality when you distrust the entire experience? Nothing will replace good IT management practices. The rest is available to you at reasonable cost on the Internet. For more information on how and why read on by clicking here Ken Nangle