Now, companies ranging from startups like USinternetworking Inc., which is building Samsung's E-commerce site, to traditional software makers to tech consultants are using services to rewrite the rules of the industry. These companies provide all the support and computers at their own facilities. More important, they often will take complex corporate software packages and scale them down so they are simpler to set up and manage. But what's different here is the Internet. Through application service providers, software can be quickly made available.
Users can gather and update information from their applications via simple Web browsers.
That means even those who have recoiled from complicated software can feel comfortable and be trained quickly. The software is changing, too. Software service providers are using more standardized packages, replacing, in many cases, custom programs that require small armies of programmers to support. That means service companies can also devise simple methods for handling all of their clients' applications, driving costs even lower. But it's not just about the money.