As an ISV or OEM, how will you deploy your application and manage it in the field? Do you have a way to update the application and monitor the health of the hardware and software? Can you ensure timely, controlled updates to your application and deliver them securely? What about OS patches and other hardware/software upgrades, will they affect the performance or functionality of your application? In this, the third of five related posts, we look at the four key factors for choosing the right application lifecycle management partner.
Who has your back?
The ideal partner should be staffed with both hardware and software design and deployment experts and work to lifecycle manage the entire solution. That frees up time and resources you can more wisely dedicate to developing new app features, creating demand and servicing customers. Without the right partner, even the best applications may never perform to their full capacity. So lets narrow down what to look for in a full service application deployment partner.
- The best partners consider all aspects of the system, including hardware, software, the OS, and the entire ecosystem on which the app is operating. Add to that the many compliance, regulatory and quality requirements and the risks can quickly add up.
- Find a partner that can remotely monitor the platform’s health and automatically alarm tech support staff when something malfunctions or the system exceeds pre-set conditional tolerances. Sounds easy, but it’s not.
- Turn to a partner that can automate software updates, manage OS patches and create systems that phone home and verify eligibility to receive updates – even dark sites not connected to the net.
- Lastly, find a partner engrained in quality, because the last thing you want are systems failing in the field.
Virtually, it’s more of the same
Lets say you’re deploying on various hardware platforms and (in some cases) running virtually. Are these systems treated consistently, or do they require individual launch and maintenance processes? Do you have a robust tool to update and patch across different platforms or do you script differently for each and every instance? The latter is very costly and can quickly rob you of your profits. Your deployment partner should offer products and services that solve these problems and proactively manage the application across all platforms. Let NEI conduct an assessment of your virtual deployment strategies. You’re guaranteed to learn new ways to optimize your design and delivery processes.
Why bother?
Good question, try these reasons on for size. The number of security vulnerabilities reported continues to rise. You’ll either manage and patch consistently or die trying. The repetitive nature of patching requires an automated tool – check out our patented Update Service. Hardware regulatory compliance is fraught with complexity, so leave that to an expert like NEI. Application management solutions should provide custom scripting capabilities as ours does. And our ability to deliver a more complete, end-to-end application management solution can be a key competitive advantage for you.
Get Started with our LEAD™ system
NEI developed the LEAD (Lifecycle Engine for Application Deployment) system to solve the challenges involved in getting an application to market and extending its life. Contact NEI for a comprehensive assessment of your deployment and application update strategies.