How is an on-demand service different from a hosted service?
An on-demand service falls within the general category of hosted services. With a typical hosted service, the provider develops, tests and deploys a custom application specifically for each client, the value proposition being that the provider’s hardware and software hosting is cheaper than a company’s IT department. Changes or upgrades require a traditional software development cycle. The “on demand” difference is that the service is always on — customers can be instantly activated without the need for an additional development cycle or other delays. With multiple customers on one system, there are greater economies of scale, and upgrades can be easily applied to all customers.
