Application Service Providers in Business

Learn how to use Application Service Providers to enhance the future of your business!Application Service Providers in Business is a comprehensive analysis of the present ASP model and its place in business today. Business success in todays information-intensive marketplace depends on a companys ability to acquire and fully use the latest advancements in business-critical applications. By having these applications delivered as services over the Internet, businesses can lessen the demands on company IT staff, and increase the ability to get complex software into use immediately. Within this context, a new outsourcing business model called ASP (Application Service Provider) has emerged that is transforming how businesses access and leverage software applications. The book explains the specific contingent ASP models, including business, enterprise, functional-focused, and vertical market ASPs, and ASP aggregators. It demonstrates how different ASP models have fulfilled diverse market/customer expectations and explores future scenarios for current ASP business models. Case studies, tables, and figures illustrate important concepts and make complex information easy to access and understand. Based on a thorough analysis of the ASP market environment, the book provides detailed Best Practices Guidelines that managers of ASPs can use to improve the chances of success of their respective ASPs. It outlines contingency factors such as application offerings, customer selection, operations, and strategic fit. The book also not only assists business managers in deciding on whether to use an ASP, but it presents ways to use ASPs to effectively support their business process. The ability to provide the workforce with access to data whenever and wherever is crucial for positively impacting a companys profitability, and ASPs provide the software to make it possible.Topics included in Application Service Providers in Business are: Best Practices Guidelines strategic management management decision making and planning IT management and outsourcing future of the ASP market ASP business models and much more!Application Service Providers in Business is a comprehensive resource for executives, managers, professors, and business students in the US and worldwide. Using the information and guidelines provided, executives and managers can learn how to use ASPs to enhance their business, and managers of ASPs can learn how to increase their chance of success in the competitive ASP market. The material is also appropriate as a textbook for management and computer information/software development classes.

Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1. Application Service Providers: An Overview Introduction ASP Defined ASP Models Main Features ASP Drivers A Variety of Offerings Review of ASP Information Services Trends and Estimated Worldwide Market Growth A Multinational Perspective Conclusion Chapter 2. The ASP Marketplace: Structure and Overall Dynamics Introduction The Current ASP Market Environment Specific Contingent ASP Business Models ASP Models Challenges Acceptance and Adoption of ASP Services Conclusion Chapter 3. ASP Performance Experiences: A Contingency Approach Introduction The Right Solution for the Specific Situation Contingency-Based Performance in Action: How Different ASP Models Have Fulfilled Diverse Market/Customer Expectations Conclusion Chapter 4. Emerging Best Practices Introduction The Importance of Building Best Practices Best Practices Developed from Existing Independent ASP Experiences Microsofts Best-Practice Guidelines for ASPs ASP Industry Consortiums Best Practice Guidelines Winning Customer Confidence and Trust Conclusion Chapter 5. The Futures of ASPs Introduction Future Models: Overview The Future of Existing ASP Models The Search for Other Models Conclusions References Index

Focacci, Luisa; Mockler, Robert; Gartenfeld, Marc