Web-based services. Golden eggs?

The Premise

If you work online you’re bound to see ads for web-based services like Constant Contact, Double Click, Quickbooks Online, etc. Business class services that promise worry free service, higher efficiency and profitability. You sign up, configure and use them for a monthly fee. It’s easy. No upgrades to worry about, no security issues, no configuration issues, in fact they offer you the golden egg!

Unbeknown to most, I once took a writing class several years ago and one of my teachers had a favorite line he used to recite to me (I think it was because he liked my writing). He used to tell me “murder your darlings!” At first I was slightly taken aback by the face value of the words but then he explained. “Darlings” are those thoughts and pieces of prose that don’t quite fit into the whole piece. You know what I mean. Those short one liners or wonderful paragraphs that are so beautiful on their own that you can’t quite bare to get rid of them even though no matter how hard you try, they don’t quite fit in. My teacher’s stance was to stop trying to make them fit. They may look wonderful but in the context of what you’re writing they simply don’t fit so kill them.

Thanks to my teacher’s brevity and the lessons I’ve learned from it, I have expanded it’s usefulness to include the online world. In fact, I think it’s even more important in the anonymity of the online world. Take it from someone who’s been there, done that, and bought the tee shirt. Do your homework and consider all possibilities or be willing to accept the consequences because not all golden eggs nor the geese that laid them are the same.

Confession

I can be impulsive (and opinionated) at times especially when it comes to whiz bang tools and services. Well not completely impulsive. I think it’s just that I’ve accepted that I learn by doing and for me doing involves getting access to the admin areas, technical and user documentation, discussion forums, and reading up on other user experiences with a web based application or service. The impulsiveness comes when I realize the only way I’m gonna really find out what the tool can do is to sign up and use it in a real-world situation. Obviously, I’m not going to risk my client’s sites so I risk my own.

Lessons

Testing web based services this way has yielded many disasters – and many rewards.

I can say about 2/3 of the trial runs have failed miserably. I cannot say the fault lay squarely on the web-based service. I own a significant share of the responsibility in those failures. They failed because they were the wrong tool for the job I wanted done. I learned a great deal from the trials and tribulations they caused me. Here are some of the things I learned for myself and from people I know and work with:

1. Understand the technology. People with technical skills in the online world can do amazing things. Sometimes nasty things. Research the product/service by searching Google, Yahoo! and MSN to search for references to the company and it’s products/services. You don’t need to understand the minutia of the tech-speak but you should endeavor to understand enough to know what it is and how it works. Ask a lot of questions and get help if you need it.
2. What are you actually buying? This can be quite illuminating. Get someone you know and trust that has technical skills to act as a translator for you. Points to consider are division of responsibilities. They typically take care of the code and you the content but who handles backups, disaster recovery, and security?
3. Know the exit procedures. Take a long hard look at how you exit the agreement with the web-based service. In particular who owns images, content, code, and copyrights. Web-based services that provide products like e-commerce catalogs/carts own the code that makes up the catalog and cart. There aren’t any actual HTML files because all of your products exist in a database. The web pages you see are created dynamically so there isn’t really a website – just programming and a database. How do you extract all of the data you’ve put into this online e-commerce storefront?
4. What are the usage fees? The pricing for many online services are based on usage. Constant Contact charges by the size of your email list. Networks Solutions e-commerce cart charges based on the number of products you have to sell.
5. Where do you go to get help? In some cases you buy the web-based service direct from the vendor but in other cases you buy the service from a representative. An example would be a shopping cart service that I like to use ShopSite. They prefer to sell their product to hosting companies that are capable and willing to manage the installation of their product. In other words, ShopSite is offered as an add-on service to a hosting package. For example, see Pair Networks. The issue is who do you go to when you need help?
6. What’s their track record? Let’s be frank. Some online services are better than others and some of those lesser services are learning at the expense of their customers. It may not be an intentional plan but it happens. As a potential buyer of online services it is a good idea to research the company. Look for discussions about reliability, security, customer support, ease of use and configuration. Many services include an online discussion forum. You can learn a huge amount by reading through the support forum.
7. Trust your instinct. I know at least a dozen people that will roll their eyes reading this one but I fully believe in my instincts. One of my mentors, a CEO of a large construction firm, once chastised me for using the word “feel” in a proposal – as in “we feel our solution offers the best … ” His point was the word feel isn’t appropriate in a professional environment. Engineering work is dictated by the laws of physics, various State laws, and other governing bodies. There’s no room for feeling. You either do it or you don’t. It can be done or it can’t or it’s going to cost this much more to do it the way you want. I can’t quite go by the book though. When I consider buying a service and something doesn’t quite feel right then I’ll seek further information or abort. There’s something to be said about trusting your judgment and it’s served me well when I listened.