The SaaS model only requires one type of security configuration, whatever the location of the user. This is not the case with a business running its own servers which must administer several levels of security depending on whether the user connects from head office (direct access), a subsidiary office (Virtual Private Network), or remotely from anywhere else (Reverse Proxy). Such a configuration can lead to added complications involving extra costs and sometimes security failures. The SaaS model provides a unified level of security and is also free of any complications regarding remote access to applications.

It’s not uncommon for PCs to be damaged, or even for laptops to be stolen. The loss of data stored on a machine can be a disaster, both for the individual and the company. With the SaaS model, the work station is no longer used for storage and instead the data is automatically saved on multiple servers for redundancy, with a high level of security. Google has several data centres throughout the world which enable it to put in place high quality business continuity and recovery services.

The Google App Engine platform guarantees 99.9% uptime reliability, which corresponds to the equivalent of 9 hours of downtime per year (if the system functions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week). Such a high level of service is difficult to attain for a business on its own and would represent a significant cost.

Bittle also offers very fast response times thanks to Google’s processing power, which is not always the case with internal applications.

Data confidentiality and integrity issues are virtually non existent with the SSL protocol which offers a level of security which is similar to that used in banking transactions.

Authentification is carried out securely with a username and password. Bittle also offers the possibility of delegating authentification to the business’ directory system. The business can then maintain their own password policy.

Reversibility for SaaS applications is the same as it is for applications in licence mode. bittle has export modules available in order to recover all data. Reversibility is entirely managed within bittle, in a quick and easy way.

For countries in the European Union, there are strict legal constraints related to personal data. Data is affected by regulation in the countries where the data centre is located and depending on the country, personal data protection may not be assured. To avoid potential problems, we are working with Google to locate data in the user’s own region, for example Europe, in order that the data is not subject to different regulation than that which is in force in their own region.