SaaS:
As you probably know, Bika Lab Systems, has been offering hosted Bika LIMS, Wine & Interlab solutions since its inception, initially we used to call it 'hosted LIMS', then changed it to 'ASP' (Application Service Provision) as it was called at the time, but since last year the term SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) seems to have become the new buzzword.
What does SaaS mean?
Wikipedia puts it rather well:
Software as a service (SaaS) is a software application delivery model where a software vendor develops a web-native software application and hosts and operates (either independently or through a third-party) the application for use by its customers over the Internet. Customers do not pay for owning the software itself but rather for using it. They use it through an API accessible over the Web and often written using Web Services or REST. The term SaaS has become the industry preferred term, generally replacing the earlier terms Application Service Provider (ASP) and On-Demand.' (link to original wikipedia article)
In simple terms, it means that our web-based LIMS, is hosted from our servers (currently only based in Cape Town, South Africa, but soon in a city near you), where we offer all support services, first line support to the clients' users, technical support on the system and hardware, relieving the client of any investment in IT know-how which normally would be associated with a LIMS acquisition. You pay a set-up fee, monthly rental and a per usage fee.
What SaaS solutions are we currently offering?
- Bika LIMS 1.2 (or Bika Wine, for the beverages industry)
- Bika LIMS 2.0 (still for evaluation and assessment purposes, until we release a production ready version)
- Bika Interlab 1.2
If you are interested, and would like to know more about our pricing, drop me an email
We do not only offer SaaS, but also use open source web-based solutions on our own server, many of which are available as SaaS on the Web. I use SugarCRM for my sales and marketing initiatives, Lemoene uses dotProject for as his project management tool and is currently evaluating Projity Openproj. We tried out Trac, but have reverted to Roundup as issue tracker for our commercial clients, and of course use our Plone website as a central CMS & document repository. As you can see we practice what we preach!
If you are interested further in sales and marketing related discussions about SaaS and its trends, I can highly recommend the following Blog; SaaStream
LIMS 2.0 'Inkosi' Related
Training Material:
Manual: We already started working on the new LIMS 2.0 manual, although still w.i.p. (which it will be until final release), you can find it here
Training Videos: We have started this week with writing up the various story boards and plan to start production (of the stable parts of the system next week), and will populate in our HelpCenter, a new LIMS 2 Video section.
Software:
Demo: The LIMS 2 demo is continually updated, current version is 2.0.18, and next week we are going to upgrade it with QC reports and graphs.
Alpha evaluation release: Although not officially released, if you're interested I can send you the latest Bika LIMS 2.0 and Bika Calendar 1.0 packages, if you want to test it locally on your own server. Send me an email if you're keen.
As you probably know, Bika Lab Systems, has been offering hosted Bika LIMS, Wine & Interlab solutions since its inception, initially we used to call it 'hosted LIMS', then changed it to 'ASP' (Application Service Provision) as it was called at the time, but since last year the term SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) seems to have become the new buzzword.
What does SaaS mean?
Wikipedia puts it rather well:
Software as a service (SaaS) is a software application delivery model where a software vendor develops a web-native software application and hosts and operates (either independently or through a third-party) the application for use by its customers over the Internet. Customers do not pay for owning the software itself but rather for using it. They use it through an API accessible over the Web and often written using Web Services or REST. The term SaaS has become the industry preferred term, generally replacing the earlier terms Application Service Provider (ASP) and On-Demand.' (link to original wikipedia article)
In simple terms, it means that our web-based LIMS, is hosted from our servers (currently only based in Cape Town, South Africa, but soon in a city near you), where we offer all support services, first line support to the clients' users, technical support on the system and hardware, relieving the client of any investment in IT know-how which normally would be associated with a LIMS acquisition. You pay a set-up fee, monthly rental and a per usage fee.
What SaaS solutions are we currently offering?
- Bika LIMS 1.2 (or Bika Wine, for the beverages industry)
- Bika LIMS 2.0 (still for evaluation and assessment purposes, until we release a production ready version)
- Bika Interlab 1.2
If you are interested, and would like to know more about our pricing, drop me an email
We do not only offer SaaS, but also use open source web-based solutions on our own server, many of which are available as SaaS on the Web. I use SugarCRM for my sales and marketing initiatives, Lemoene uses dotProject for as his project management tool and is currently evaluating Projity Openproj. We tried out Trac, but have reverted to Roundup as issue tracker for our commercial clients, and of course use our Plone website as a central CMS & document repository. As you can see we practice what we preach!
If you are interested further in sales and marketing related discussions about SaaS and its trends, I can highly recommend the following Blog; SaaStream
LIMS 2.0 'Inkosi' Related
Training Material:
Manual: We already started working on the new LIMS 2.0 manual, although still w.i.p. (which it will be until final release), you can find it here
Training Videos: We have started this week with writing up the various story boards and plan to start production (of the stable parts of the system next week), and will populate in our HelpCenter, a new LIMS 2 Video section.
Software:
Demo: The LIMS 2 demo is continually updated, current version is 2.0.18, and next week we are going to upgrade it with QC reports and graphs.
Alpha evaluation release: Although not officially released, if you're interested I can send you the latest Bika LIMS 2.0 and Bika Calendar 1.0 packages, if you want to test it locally on your own server. Send me an email if you're keen.
