If you must dip your toe in the ASP water, try non mission-critical software first. A constant lament about ASPs is that they make functional promises that vaporize with the signed contract. Minus substantial customization, many ASPs cannot satisfy all customer business requirements. Most telling for lawyers who complain about a process taking microseconds longer than they are used to, speed is a constant issue, both because of the manner in which applications are hosted on ASPs and because of the Internet connection itself. ASPs will die.
ASPs are fledgings.
They are new, struggling to find a business model that will work, constantly altering price structures, and tend to have inexperienced, unprofessional staff with a minimal understanding of law firm business requirements. None of this is good news for a prospective long-term relationship. For many, it has proven to be fool's gold. Companies have spring up so fast that business planning, reliability, accessibility, functionality and support all suffer, deflating the once rosy market projections for ASPs. So far, law firms have resisted the urge to run lemming-like off the ASP cliff.