Operations plan for a SaaS-based web content monetization platform

Web Content Monetization Software

Operations Plan for Web Media Contents Monetization software

(B2B based)

Section VII. Operation Plan

The intent of this operations plan is to define the operating model and cycle, operation strategy, geographic location, and facilities, equipment and improvements necessary to deliver Web content monetization software-based solutions. In addition capacity levels and inventory management, and legal issues affecting operation are defined in this section. As the Web content monetization suite of applications will be delivered using a hosted or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform the need for clearly written legal contracts and explicitly-stated Service Level Agreements (SLAs) is critical (Kennedy, 2009). Another aspect of the operations plan for a SaaS-based Web content monetization system is support for taxonomy management and digital asset management (Ghalimi, 2008). This will be integral to the facilities, equipment and improvements.

B. Operation Strategy

As the Web content monetization software is delivered over a SaaS platform the most critical resources are programmers and quality assurance. Both groups work in conjunction with one another to troubleshoot the applications and get them ready for upload and delivery online. Customers have the option of choosing to have specific features of the Web content monetization suite go live or not. This is one of the significant advantages of the SaaS platform (Creeger, 2009).

C. Geographic Location

The Web content monetization suite can be literally hosted from anywhere there is a reliable high speed Internet connection that can sustain a T1-level of performance. Due to the concentration of media content providers in New York and global providers with offices there, this location would be preferred. In addition, hosting partners have data centers in the New York area that are price competitive which further supports this decision.

D. Facilities, Equipment and Improvements

For the proposed venture all that is needed is an office with high speed Internet, meeting rooms and proximity to the primary customer base. Programming, professional services, marketing, sales and service can be run out of a standard office building. The requirements for the data center hosting the Web content monetization suite of applications include security, SLA compliance and uptime guarantees and support for multitenant-based delivery of the application (Lager, 2008). In addition there must be shared risk for SLA performance so the data centers have ownership of their performance to the customer level (Katzan, Dowling, 2010).

E. Capacity Levels and Inventory Management

There is no inventory as the proposed venture is leasing yearly access to a Web content monetization suite of applications. Capacity levels therefore are more determined by the capacity of data from customers, specifically from their enterprise content management, digital asset management (DAM) and approach to selling strategies through their distributed order management implementation. Capacity levels of the data center and assurances to customers are defined through the use of Service Level Agreements (SLA) (Kennedy, 2009).

F. Legal Issues Affecting Operation

The most critical legal issue is the contractual commitments to provide a leased service online at a relatively high level of reliability (Katzan, Dowling, 2010). Customers are enforcing their rights in this area by increasingly stringent SLA agreement and cost estimates of lost productivity due to service outages (Kennedy, 2009). The proposed venture must have a very high level of reliability and security written into their contract with the service provider, including support for security audits of their data centers. In addition SLAs guaranteeing a specific level of service also need to be continually evaluated and improved over time to stay ahead of the economics of the market (Katzan, Dowling, 2010).