There is a tendency to fear change, I guess, and it’s tough to ignore that many larger organisations are tied into expensive legacy IT systems, licensing schemes and opaque security policies and procedures… business is quite tough right now though, and with proprietary local network based IT services I really believe that many companies are carrying more pain and cost than they should, or can afford to.

Web application technology has matured (but development is showing no sign of slowing, it just gets slicker, faster and more integrated with devices and other software services). There is a wave of web-based applications, services and tools available that are intuitive, attractive and beneficial from a business agility perspective, Salesforce.com being my favourite of these.

The key differentiators, for me, of a tool like SF.com are security, reliability, performance and interoperability… actually, hell… that’s not true at all… let’s take that again

Security, reliability, performance and interoperability are the entry-qualifications that many legacy networked business systems fail to achieve, and have failed to achieve for 10+ years. What DIFFERENTIATES web applications from previously used systems is the “available anywhere, zero install” omnipresence that is just in their DNA. All you need is a half decent Internet connection and you’re connected, doing business and communicating as your needs dictate, rather than the IT manager allows.

Whether you prefer a Mac, XP, Vista, Linux or Unix… well, we’ve never had so much possibility to enjoy secure consistent productivity across such a diverse range of computing platforms.

The great enablers in the web application world include Google (everything from email and instant messaging through to voice communications and hosted applications… not forgetting AdSense as a revenue stream and AdWords to get your business website seen and generating revenues), Mozilla (the Firefox browser has an astonishing 20.78% market share now and is the weapon of choice for many web app ninjas, who value the plug-in accessories that are offered to integrate their favourite services with their browser) and a whole host of bijou development houses (37 Signals is a great example) that are popping up with wonderful ways to exploit the Internet as THE platform for open communications.

Moving your business into a communications environment that takes advantage of the improved cost and business continuity potential of the web is logical, and could be part of a rational IT regime to keep you trading profitably in a tough market.

Things to consider include:

Voice (fixed, mobile and VoIP)
Internet access (fixed and WLAN / cellular mobile)
Email
Instant Messaging
Web Presence (Internet, Intranet, Extranet, Social Networking tools)
CRM, Customer support & Billing
Other IT overheads (could be anything from internal / external IT guy to the computer in your hand or on your desk… could you rework this and work more efficiently with lower cost burden?)

What percentage of your fixed and variable CAPEX and OPEX is spent in these areas? What percentage of your revenue (or profit) does this represent? Can you afford to be scornful of web applications or would you value significant savings?

So for me, 2009 is the year where we can evangelise and business folks may listen (and gain many thousands of pounds of value from what they hear)… those expensive legacy systems with their hefty licencing fees and requirement for in-house or externally contracted IT support could begin to look rather stinky in this new and cost-focused business environment. Bring on Web 2.0.x

/ic