With a consultancy, you get every possible feature and function that its developers can put into a project. That's because consultants get paid through the development cycle, which can take up to 18 months. Cutting Support Costs Unlike other software suppliers, ASPs that own the code have the advantage of being able to upgrade all their customers at once - and as often as they like. Even ASPs that resell packaged software can upgrade all of their customers at one time, cutting support costs dramatically. Keeping support costs at a minimum is vital because the talent behind the support is so hard to hire, even with the advantages many ASPs offer.
Resources are tight across the board.
Our hiring has to be aggressive as well. One lure ASPs can float before job candidates is a stock option package, which most IT managers can't compete with. At ASPs, the IT staff is not only at ground zero for technical advances, but it's also the source of the company's bottom line. This is a challenge few IT professionals have had in their careers, and it's something that appeals to many of them. Computerworld Inc. All rights reserved.