Enterprise Software 101: Self-Service Vs. Managed Solutions

If you ask the wrong person for advice about enterprise software, it can quickly become a boring, one-sided lecture. Then again, so can a chat about last night’s match! In reality though, enterprise software – just like sport – has the potential to be very exciting. For example, you don’t need to know the off-side rule to enjoy a game of football… and you don’t need to know exactly how enterprise software works to enjoy its benefits.

So today, we’re going to take a no-nonsense look at the difference between “Managed” and “Self-Serve” – nothing fancy, just the key points you need to know.

Managed

“Managed” is when you assign a 3rd party to run an application or system on your behalf.

As long as you choose a solid company to handle this for you, there are a number of advantages, such as:

• No Learning Curve. You don’t have to spend any length of time understanding the system, you simply add it to your current marketing stack and let it get to work.
• No Internal Resources. Instead of bothering your I.T. department with something trivial, you can let them make strategic progress on the other 1,001 tasks in their pipeline.

If you don’t have the time to get to grips with a new system or application, and you want to experience its benefits immediately, then a managed solution is a better choice.

Self-Serve

“Self-Serve” is when you take full responsibility for operating a system or application.

If you have enough free time to invest, then there are benefits to using a self-serve solution. For example:

• No Need to Pay Extra. You won’t have to worry about the cost of paying a 3rd party system manager for something you could learn to do yourself!
• Discover What Works for You. You’ll be able to play about with the system, and spend time discovering different setups for the way your company works.

Self-serve is a better choice for companies who like to keep as much control as possible over the finer details of what their systems are doing, or for companies looking to keep 3rd party costs down. If you can invest time into learning the system and figuring out the best way to use it, self-serve might be the choice for you.

There’s more to it than what you’ve just read, of course – just like there’s more to a sports match than simply saying “England beat France 5 – 0” – but for now, that’s where we’re going to leave it. Hopefully it’s given you a bit of insight into which approach might be best for your company, and if you ever want us to bore you with the finer details, don’t hesitate to get in touch.