Or perhaps IT is knocking on your door and muttering that ASPs are a con. Hardly surprising, since using an ASP might enable you to cut IT down to size. About a year ago ASPs were just another IT buzz word, but Internet technology, and the growing availability of high-speed access to the Internet, has provided the means for the ASP model to become a reality. An ASP rents software applications, which it hosts and makes available to customers via the Internet or a dedicated line. The customer's applications and data are kept on the premises of a third party.
Customers rent the applications on a per monthly, per user basis.
The benefits of using an ASP include a significant reduction in the upfront costs of software, hardware maintenance, software updates, and much of the complexity and angst involved with managing networks and IT in general. In today's competitive market, it also reduces the need to find and retain expensive IT staff. In addition, working capital and internal resources are freed for other uses and the customer is able to focus on their business instead of on support functions. The ASP controls the hardware and the applications, and can switch them off at a moment's notice and the monthly ASP bill will have to be paid on time. Speed Slow ASP services translate to a lot of wasted time as employees sit around waiting for applications to load and tasks to execute.