EHS SaaS explained: Multi-tenancy is a difference that makes a difference

There is a considerable degree of (intended) confusion in the EHS software space when it comes to multi-tenancy.  Companies that are considering Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) hear all sorts of things from EHS software vendors hoping to tap into the momentum of cloud computing.  Among the most common is that multi-tenancy is a “techie” thing that doesn’t need to be part of the conversation.  Many go as far as saying “sure, we can do multi-tenant, single-tenant, whatever you need!”— anything to win the job.

Unfortunately, those vendors simply do not understand what they are talking about.  Multi-tenancy is a major shift in computing and requires all new approach to software architecture and delivery model.  It is transformational, and customers who intend to buy the next generation of EHS software should spend the time to understand differences.

Multi-tenancy is the core foundation of modern SaaS and shouldn’t be taken lightly, generalized, or massaged into something that suits a vendor’s self-serving interpretation of SaaS.  Having experienced first-hand the true benefits of multi-tenant SaaS, I can’t conceptualize how SaaS would have delivered those benefits if it wasn’t multi-tenant.  Can anyone imagine companies like Salesforce, NetSuite, Google, or Amazon offering a “single-tenant” solution side by side to their multi-tenant clouds?  I will go as far as say that any company offering a single-tenant solution cannot be a serious contender in offering multi-tenant SaaS.

I would also add that single-tenant (hybrid) cloud applications are worse than on-premise installment.  Why?  Because they are fake clouds.  In these instances, a customer is, in fact, outsourcing maintenance of their application to a vendor that is not equipped for that maintenance.  No single vendor in the EHS software industry is large enough to undertake maintenance of the single-tenant infrastructure on behalf of their customers, regardless how inexpensive hardware may be.

There are many ways to take the functions of on-premise installed software model of the 1980s and package them as services.  Some of these service delivery modes– such as ASP, single-tenant hosting, and hybrid clouds– merely relocate and reassign long-standing problems and potentially make them worse.  In a single-tenant model, user customizations may infiltrate throughout the stack, in a way that makes it difficult to upgrade the performance of the stack.  The true SaaS models confront and mitigate– or even eliminate– some of the most vexing elements of software installation and maintenance: configurability on the fly, software maintenance, and upgrades.  It is “a tyranny of software upgrades” that kills the single-tenant model.

Let me offer a simple analogy to drive home the point as to why multi-tenancy matters: Tesla vs. Edison– War of Currents.

The War of Currents was a series of events surrounding the introduction of competing electric power transmission systems in the late 1880s and early 1890s that pitted companies against one another and involved a debate over cost and convenience of electricity generation and distribution systems, electrical safety, and a media/propaganda campaign, with the main players being the direct current (DC) based on the Thomas Edison Electric Light Company and the supporters of alternating current (AC) based on Nikola Tesla’s inventions backed by Westinghouse.

With electricity supplies in their infancy, much depended on choosing the right technology to power homes and businesses across the country.  The Edison-led group argued for DC current that required a power generating station every few city blocks (single-tenant model), whereas the AC group advocated for a centralized generation with transmission lines that could move electricity great distances with minimal loss (multi-tenant model).

The lower cost of AC power distribution and fewer generating stations eventually prevailed.  Multi-tenancy is equivalent of AC when it comes to cost, convenience, and network effect.  You can read more about how this analogy relates to SaaS in the book by Nicholas Carr, “Big Switch,” a Wall Street Journal bestseller. It’s “the best read so far about the significance of the shift to cloud computing,” said Financial Times.  The EHS software industry has been a laggard in adopting multi-tenancy.

Given these fundamental differences between different modes of delivering software as a service, it is clear that the future lies with the multi-tenant model.

Whether all customer data is put onto one database or onto multiple databases is of no consequence to the customer.  For those arguing against it, it is like an assertion that companies “do not want to put all their money into the same bank account as their competitors,” when what those companies are doing is putting their money into different accounts at the same bank.

When customers of a financial institution share what does not need to be partitioned—for example, the transactional logic and the database maintenance tools, security, and physical infrastructure and insurance offered by a major financial institution—then they enjoy advantages of security, capacity, consistency, and reliability that would not be affordably deliverable in isolated parallel systems.

In enterprise cloud applications and cloud application platforms, multi-tenancy yields a compelling the combination of efficiency and capability without sacrificing flexibility or governance.

When a software provider seeks to blur the distinctions between one technology and another, there’s usually just one reason: because they are unable to offer the superior technology to their customers, and hope to persuade their customers that real differences are not relevant to their needs.  Multi-tenant platforms for enterprise on-demand applications represent genuine opportunities for customer advantage.  The reality of multi-tenant differentiation is acknowledged by authoritative industry analysts such as Gartner, whose March 2007 announcement1 of its Outsourcing Summit that month included this definition of Software as a Service:

“Hosted software based on a single set of common code and data definitions that are consumed in a one-to-many model.”

In other words, hosting models that do not offer the leverage of multi-tenancy don’t belong in the same discussion as the value proposition implied by the term, “SaaS”.  Multi-tenancy is a difference that makes a difference.

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References

1Gartner Inc., “SaaS will have significant impact on IT services and outsourcing providers,” Tekrati, 7 March 2007

Why SaaS multitenancy is key to successful and sustainable EHS management

A recently published survey by a research analyst firm indicates that 90 percent of EHS software applications installed today are single-tenant on customer premises or single-tenant, vendor hosted.  Only 10 percent are multitenant, vendor-hosted. In other words, most of the vendors in the EH&S space do not run a single version of their software maintained at one location. Instead, they run multiple copies at a single or multiple locations, with the high likelihood that these multiple copies are not alike, but instead represent multiple versions or contain specific customizations for individual customers. This model is crushing their growth and scalability potential.

Locus delivers EHS+S SaaS solutions as highly scalable, Software as a Service (SaaS) application and platform services on a multitenant technology architecture. Multitenancy is an architectural approach that allows Locus to operate a single application instance for multiple organizations, treating all customers as separate tenants who run in virtual isolation from each other. Customers can use and customize an application as though they each have a separate instance, yet their data and customizations remain secure and insulated from the activities of all other tenants. Locus multitenant services run on a single stack of hardware and software, which is comprised of commercially available hardware and a  combination of proprietary and commercially available software. As a result, Locus can spread the cost of delivering EHS SaaS services across user base, which lowers the cost for each customer. Also, because Locus does not have to manage thousands of distinct applications with their business logic and database schemas, we believe that we can scale our business faster than traditional software vendors. Moreover, we can focus our resources on building new functionality to deliver to customer base as a whole rather than on maintaining an infrastructure to support each of their distinct applications.

Multitenancy also allows for faster bug and security fixes, automatic software updates and the ability to deploy major releases and frequent, incremental improvements to Locus’ services, benefiting the entire user community. Our services are optimized to run on specific databases and operating systems using the tools and platforms best suited to serve customers rather than on-premise software that must be written to the different hardware, operating systems and database platforms existing within a customer’s unique systems environment. Locus developers build and support solutions and features on a single code base on our chosen technology platform. Locus efforts are focused on improving and enhancing the features, functionality, performance, availability and security of existing service offerings as well as developing new features, functionality, and services.

Locus customers and third-party developers can create apps rapidly because of the ease of use of Locus Platform and the benefits of a multitenant platform. Locus provides the capability for business users to configure applications easily to suit their specific needs.

Also, Locus multitenant cloud platform makes it possible to use a remarkably small number of servers as efficiently as possible. When organizations move business applications to Locus, they can significantly reduce their energy use and carbon footprints compared to traditional on-premises or single-tenant or ASP solutions

Locus built and maintains a multitenant application architecture that has been designed to enable service to scale securely, reliably and cost effectively. Locus’ multitenant application architecture maintains the integrity and separation of customer data while still permitting all customers to use the same application functionality simultaneously.

Both Locus and its data centers providers hold independent  AICPA SOC1 (SSAE16)  and SOC2 certification.

Locus has been awarded by the Environmental Business Journal (EBJ) for a tenth year running!

Environmental Business Journal (EBJ) Recognizes Firms for Growth and Innovation in 2015

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA–(Marketwired – February 02, 2016) — Locus Technologies announced today that Environmental Business Journal (EBJ), a business research publication which provides high value strategic business intelligence to the environmental industry, granted the company the 2015 award for Information Technology in the environmental and sustainability industry for the tenth year running.

Locus was recognized for continuing its strategic shift to configurable Multitenant pure Software as a Service (SaaS) EHS solutions and welcoming new, high profile customers. In 2015 Locus scored record revenue from Cloud software with annual growth over 20 percent. Locus also achieved a record renewal rate of 99 percent and signed up new customers including Shell Oil Company, Philips 66, Ameresco, California Dairies, Cemex, Frito-Lay, Genentech, Lockheed Martin, PPG Industries, United Airlines and US Pipe & Foundry. Locus also became the largest provider of SaaS environmental software to the commercial nuclear industry; currently over 50 percent of U.S. nuclear generating capacity uses Locus’ flagship product. Locus’ configurable Locus Platform gained momentum in 2015 with new implementations in the manufacturing, agricultural and energy sectors, including a major contract with Sempra Energy for greenhouse gas management and reporting.

“Locus continues to influence the industry with its forward-thinking product set, pure SaaS architecture, and eye for customer needs,” said Grant Ferrier, president of Environmental Business International Inc. (EBI), publisher of Environmental Business Journal.

“We are very proud and honored to receive the prestigious EBJ Information Technology award in environmental business for a tenth time. We feel it is a testament to our unwavering commitment and dedication to accomplish this level of recognition, especially now as we lead the market by providing robust solutions for the emerging space of cloud and mobile-based environmental information management,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus Technologies.

The 2015 EBJ awards will be presented at a special ceremony at the Environmental Industry Summit XIV in San Diego, Calif. on March 9-11, 2016. The Environmental Industry Summit is an annual three-day executive retreat hosted by EBI Inc.

Locus Technologies receives EBJ Business Achievement award for Information Technology

Environmental Business Journal (EBJ) recognizes firms for growth and innovation in 2014

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 10 March 2015 — Locus Technologies announced today that Environmental Business Journal (EBJ), a business research publication which provides high value strategic business intelligence to the environmental industry, granted the company the 2014 award for Information Technology in the environmental and sustainability industry for the ninth time.

Locus was recognized for significant strategic strides in 2014 including entering the water quality management (drinking water supplies and waste water) market; introducing its new Locus Platform (a highly configurable, user-friendly interface to fully meet individual organizations’ environmental management needs); and launching Locus Mobile (a field data collection solution that is fully integrated with Locus’s flagship Environmental Information Management [EIM] platform). In addition, Locus continues to maintain its leadership position in the commercial nuclear industry by solidifying business with more than 50 percent of all U.S. commercial reactor facilities that use Locus EIM for radionuclides monitoring management.

“Locus continues to influence the industry with its forward-thinking product set and eye for customer needs,” said Grant Ferrier, president of Environmental Business International Inc. (EBI), publisher of Environmental Business Journal.

“We are very proud to receive the prestigious EBJ Information Technology award in environmental business for the ninth time. It is a statement of our vision and perseverance to accomplish this level of recognition, especially now as we lead the market by providing robust solutions for the emerging space of cloud and mobile-based environmental information management,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus Technologies.

The 2014 EBJ awards, hosted by EBI Inc., will be presented at the annual executive retreat called the Environmental Industry Summit XIII in San Diego, Calif. on March 11-13, 2015.

Cloud Apps Critical Requirement No 8: Faster Deployment

Since cloud applications do not require investments and installation of hardware and software, organizations should be able to get them running and productive in a fraction of the time compared to on-premises software. This is particularly true for complex environmental and sustainability information management and compliance applications. On day one, customers are able to look at demonstration data, and very quickly after that they can test their data in a SaaS system to see how it looks and works.

Multi-tenant SaaS deployments are highly iterative and collaborative with the customer, and a provider’s deployment staff should be skilled down to the most minute of tasks.
With multi-tenant, configurable cloud applications, the coding is outsourced. With the DOE implementation of Locus, for example, the business side of the organization was able to play a significant role in leading the project, which let the customer focus its finite IT resources on data, integrations, and working with the business team to ensure technology and processes were aligned. In a configurable cloud application environment, once the processes and training are in place, you turn it on. It is that simple.

Locus Introduces New Platform for Environmental Enterprise Resource Planning

The new Locus platform offers a highly configurable, user-friendly interface to fully meet individual organizations’ environmental management needs

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 21 October 2013 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the leader in cloud-based environmental and sustainability management software, introduces its newest platform to redefine how companies organize, manage, visualize, and report their environmental, sustainability, and compliance information.

Today, environmental, sustainability, and energy managers for organizations of all sizes face myriad options from software suppliers offering various single-domain applications. Challenged with an ever-evolving regulatory landscape, these managers must select a software provider that can adapt to new compliance constraints and the constant changes of existing regulations, often with multijurisdictional requirements; unfortunately, most software suppliers have rigid platforms or applications that fail to keep up with constantly changing needs, are hard to integrate, and are often obsolete before they are even implemented.

To address this industry challenge, the company designed the new Locus platform to provide rich functionality in a simple way so that it would be easy for customers to make the most of their data management and reporting requirements. In addition, the new platform helps companies avoid many of the costs generally associated with implementing traditional software systems thanks to its simple setup, navigation, and configuration options, thereby eliminating the need for expensive implementations, user training, and customizations.

Locus addressed common barriers to using environmental management software when designing the new Locus platform. Specifically, Locus conducted a gap analysis of current software offerings. It identified challenges through feedback from its end users and other industry professionals, and through customer surveys conducted by several industry research analysts’ firms over the last two years. Specifically, users were wary of complex and expensive systems and implementations; a rigid regulatory environment for businesses that made adapting to new systems costly and complicated; and integration of a new platform with legacy systems.

The resulting Locus platform offers an intuitive interface with the immense flexibility to incorporate features such as drag-and-drop forms creation, visual business-process modeling, Excel import/export integration, and a rich and configurable user dashboards and reporting interface. Locus created every feature with the end user in mind to promote quick and easy data capture and task management. Finally, customers should see significant savings over traditional software offerings both at the time of implementation and over the long term. Because the Locus platform’s system, upgrades, and maintenance are cloud-based rather than configured on individual user workstations, while users can configure the way they use the software, they do not need to pay for customization at the individual level.

“We listened to industry users and created configurable dashboards that are clean, dynamically driven, easy to read, and easy to access. This platform will improve companies’ data collection, analysis, and most importantly, reporting capabilities,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus. “The new Locus platform will make the required compliance and EH&S reporting expected of most companies more streamlined. The end result is the mitigation of regulatory risks and fines.”

The launch of the latest Locus platform follows the same guidelines and goals that the company established during the original inception of ePortal in 2000. This version is the latest embodiment of Locus’ industry differentiation: to offer an integrated solution so that companies can manage all of their environmental, energy, water, waste, carbon, air, health and safety, and compliance information in one place.

“We’ve updated the platform based on industry wants and needs,” remarked Duplan. “This isn’t a product of different solutions pieced together to look like one; it is the ‘whole solution.’ We have always created our products in this same vein because it means less time to configure, less time to implement, and far fewer support requirements. And it means a dramatically lower cost than customers have seen in the past with the ERP providers or point solutions from different vendors. Budget has long been a barrier to implementation and we are stepping up to the plate to solve that problem.”

Locus will conduct the first live demonstrations of the new platform at the Locus booth at the National Association for Environmental Management 2013 EHS Management Forum from October 23-25 in Montreal.

Cloud Apps Critical Requirement No 7: Predictable Total Cost of Ownership Model

There should be no surprise costs with cloud applications. Implementation costs should be predictable, and subscription-based pricing should be transparent with no hidden fees. Cloud applications should not require upfront investments in hardware and software license fees.
Real SaaS is a lot more than just hosting and data storing. Where multi-tenancy, a single version of the software and vendor-managed updates all come together and really payoff is having more predictability around your total cost of ownership. There should be no more highly unpredictable projects, with the most common among those being software upgrades.
One thing that can kill a VP of EHS reputation is surprises, particularly surprises with lots of dollar signs. With a valid cloud application to manage environmental and sustainability information and compliance, EH&S manager can determine exactly what it is going to cost over the next five years.

Such predictability lends transparency to the environmental compliance and sustainability budget process and means you will not have to fight budget battles for unexpected costs.

Cloud Apps Critical Requirement No 6: A High-Performance, Sustainable IT Infrastructure

The cloud application provider should maintain a high-performance IT infrastructure, which includes the data centers and databases, operating systems, networks, security, and storage systems used to run cloud applications and manage customer data. It should have stellar IT operations, security, maintenance, and performance tuning processes.

Livelihood of SaaS companies depends on their ability to securely and effectively manage their operations, and that means keeping pace with the most current technologies. They should also publish live their uptime monitored by the third party.

Cloud applications are also environmentally sustainable due to the multi-tenant infrastructure in which they are delivered. Multi-tenant SaaS reduces electricity consumption, paper waste, and lowers CO2 emissions. A hundred customers, using 100 different systems, is less efficient and more impactful on the environment than those customers all sharing the same data center.

10 Critical Requirements for Environmental Cloud Applications: No. 1: True Multi-tenancy

There is considerable debate in the marketplace about whether organizations should know or even care about multi-tenancy. The truth is that multi-tenancy is the only proven SaaS delivery architecture that eliminates many of the problems created by the traditional software licensing and upgrade model, so it is extremely valuable to know whether a provider uses a multi-tenant architecture. A provider should be able to answer this question with a simple “yes” or “no,” and prove its answer.

Multi-tenancy ensures that every customer is on the same version of the software. As a result, no customer is left behind when the software is updated to include new features and innovations. A single software version also creates an unprecedented sense of community where customers and partners share knowledge, resources, and learning. Smart managers work with their peers and learn from them and what they are doing. Multi-tenancy offers distinct cost benefits over traditional, single-tenant software hosting. A multi-tenant SaaS provider’s resources are focused on maintaining a single, current version of the application, rather than spread out in an attempt to support multiple software versions for customers. If a provider isn’t using multi-tenancy, it may be hosting thousands of single-tenant customer implementations. Trying to maintain that is too costly for the vendor, and those costs, sooner or later, become the customers’ costs.

Multi-tenancy requires a new architectural approach. You have to develop applications from the ground up for multi-tenancy; otherwise, extensive work is required of the vendor to alter the on-premises application and underlying database for multi-tenancy, resulting in an even more complex, and potentially high-maintenance, application.

How to Recognize Cloud Providers and Applications that Deliver Real Value for Environmental and Compliance Information Management

Environmental, sustainability, compliance, CIOs, CTOs, and other business technology managers can free up valuable resources for strategic activities by deploying cloud applications that are less costly and complex, yet more intelligent and user-friendly, than on-premises applications. Tech managers can miss this opportunity, however, if CIOs are unable to differentiate real cloud providers and applications from imposters. In the enterprise software industry’s rush to fulfill rising demand, some providers may skip requirements that are critical to delivering the true benefits of cloud applications.

Industry pioneers for cloud applications (also known as software-as-a-service (SaaS)) know shortcuts do not exist. Applications, architectures, and processes must be built from the ground up to produce superior, leading-edge alternatives to the traditional on-premises software and maintenance model.

In next several months I will post 10 critical requirements for Cloud Applications that are relevant for our big data-driven industry focusing on importance of multi-tenancy. I hope that these 10 critical requirements of cloud computing will help organizations planning to replace legacy systems distinguish the difference between real and fake cloud applications. If cloud applications and their providers do not meet these requirements, it is unlikely they can deliver the full benefits of today’s SaaS.