Your organization wants to make it convenient for remote users (board members, development staff, volunteers, etc.) to access your organization’s fundraising system from home, on the road or in other places outside of your main offices. Internet technology has certainly made it very possible to cost-effectively access needed data (donor contact information, special event details, recent solicitation analysis, etc.) in real time from anywhere in the world.
In fact, there are multiple ways to achieve this type of remote access. It’s often difficult for non-technical professionals to fully understand the different technology offered by vendors to achieve remote access. There are important differences in terms of costs, functionality and performance, depending on the technology used. This article is intended to help nonprofit organizations fully understand the distinctions and assist them in selecting the remote solution that best fits their need.
First, let’s get some definitions of important terms.
* Application Service Provider (ASP) – Typically this refers to a company that provides (“hosts”) a software solution that is accessed and used via the Internet. Typically ASP’s charge a monthly subscription fee rather than an upfront license fee, but some companies may require you to purchase the software and then charge a monthly or annual “hosting” fee for the technology
(computer hardware, services, etc.) to run and manage the software.
* Browser-based software – We’ll use this term to distinguish software where the only software component that must be installed on your computer is a web-browser, such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Netscape, etc. In theory, you could use an old computer with just Windows (or Mac OS) and no other software but the browser.
* Browser plug-in – Some software requires you to install a small software component as an add-on to your browser in order for you to use the product. Although this is a small and subtle difference, it can be important to make this distinction since the need for a browser plug-in may mean that the software will only work with a particular browser. This may, for instance, limit your ability to run the software on hand-held devices (like a PDA or phone), Macintosh computers, etc.
* Thin-client – This is an alternative method of providing remote access to software that was not originally designed to be accessed remotely. Products such as Citrix®, Microsoft Terminal Server®, PCAnywhere®, GotoMyPC, etc., allow so-called “legacy” products to be accessed via the Internet. Rather than transferring data back and forth, the only information that is being processed by the remote computer is the keystrokes, mouse-clicks, and screen views. The term thin-client refers to the fact that less data is actually transferred between the “hosting” computer and the remote “client.”
Which Approach Is Right For You?
LEARN MORE - >http://www.donorperfect.com/fundraisingsoftware/asp_or_thin_client.asp
DonorPerfect Fundraising Software ->
The Fundraising Software Guide ->
Recurring Gifts Whitepaper ->
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