Tapping into the ?tingi-tingi? culture of Filipinos, local cloud computing firm IP Converge has unveiled its ?enterprise sachet? IT offering to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups.
IPC, a unit of ePLDT, said the ?Enterprise Sachet? is a pay-as-you-go model that allows companies to make use of business productivity tools and compute resources on-demand and pay only for what they use via online payment.
?We define the Enterprise Sachet as the business model by which Filipino SMEs and entrepreneurs can use IT tools that give them the same capabilities as larger organizations but at affordable, pay-as-you-use packages. It changes the landscape of business IT as we know it because small operations are now able to compete in the big leagues using IT resources that are affordable, flexible, and easily accessible,? said IPC president Rene Huergas.
An estimated 90 percent of Philippine businesses are considered to be SMEs, including startups.
Huergas noted that many local entrepreneurs understand that growing their business requires investing in technology ? from tools that help them manage client data to systems that will automate back-office operations.
However, budget constraints often prevent them from deploying tools as early as possible. Further, many technology services available in the market provide for small initial use with quick scalability.
Through the Enterprise Sachet model, business owners and their IT managers can access any and all cloud computing services through cloud.com.ph.
The website is the country?s first and only cloud portal offering locally hosted services and payable online through major credit cards (MasterCard, Visa, Amex), over-the-counter cash payments via Dragonpay or popular online payment provider Paypal.
?Scaling up or down anytime is not a problem. You do not end up with too much or too little services, space, or licenses. Customers only pay for what they need, when they need it,? Huergas added.
cloud.com.ph is hosted in-country and in IPC?s own telco-grade, carrier-neutral data center. This means that customers can expect immediate service with minimal investment, as well as access to a support team that can respond quickly and understands the unique needs of Filipino enterprises.
Services available via the portal include access to cloud servers or virtual machines (Infrastructure-as-a-Service or IaaS), Google Apps for Work online productivity and collaboration tools, and IPC PayCheck a local timekeeping and payroll management tool (Software-as-a-Service or SaaS).
In addition, visitors to the website may also avail of 30-day free trial accounts for Google Apps for Work, IPC PayCheck, and Salesforce — the world?s top cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) application.
?The benefits of the cloud portal are endless regardless of the industry we are talking about. The idea that an organization can access their IT system anytime from afar, through a cloud portal, means that they have already benefited from it by saving on time and money,? Huergas said.
