Application service providers are quietly fostering a revolution in how businesses use rented computer applications to perform tasks ranging from managing personnel records to outsourcing accounting . With market research firm Gartner Group predicting a coming rash of industry consolidation, ASPs eventually may have to reinvent themselves as consumer-oriented companies seeking to provide services similar to those offered by online storage companies .
Consumers crave tools that help make their lives easier.
The ability to store everything from documents to vacations photos has proven to be a very potent lure . And consumer-oriented ASPs, while still rare, are not unheard of. Even industries once thought of as beyond the pale of high technology are cashing in on e-commerce, getting a significant push along the way from ASPs. Auto dealers in Florida, for example, now are able to power the auto parts section of their individual Websites by using a software product known as TradeMotion. Staff writer Beth O'Connell notes from Florida how XML seamlessly speeds the exchange of data between users.