When the ASP Industry Consortium announced in November that it was being acquired by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) it said it was making the move because it needed help to increase adoption for ASP-delivered products. The 8,000-corporate-member-strong CompTIA, the consortium said, could do just that (see ASP Trade Group Joins CompTIA). It looks like the adoption plan is underway.
In the first act since the acquisition, CompTIA’s ASP section is offering a free ASP Buyer’s Guide designed to make it easier for businesses to select an ASP.
According to CompTIA, as businesses look to trim costs in a tight market, more companies are turning to ASPs to leverage the latest technologies without incurring significant infrastructure, hardware or software costs. For example, the guide reports that businesses that use ASPs can reduce information technology (IT) costs by 30-60 percent.
“This buyers guide simplifies the process for any company that wants to select and work with an ASP,” said Paula Hunter, chairman of the CompTIA ASP Section advisory board. She adds, “The ASP model has been proven by the many companies that have successfully implemented new applications and technologies without risking large investments or tapping already stretched internal IT departments.”
The Guide provides information ranging from ASP basics to details about what types of companies use ASPs. The Guide breaks choosing an ASP into three steps:
- Determine which applications you want an ASP to host
- Assess your internal IT capabilities.
- Evaluate ASPs.
It also offer the following:
- ASP Glossary — how to tell your CSPs (four kinds) from your
SSPs (two kinds) from your ASP - ASP Value Chain — where various ASP services fall on the value chain from portals to management applications to network infrastructure
- Application Types — what services are offered, from accounting to e-mail to supply chain automation
- ASP Usage — who’s using ASPs, including data from 17 different countries, and including company size any type
- Choosing an ASP — how to assess internal IT capabilities and evaluate an ASP
- Assessing ASPs — how to make sure you’re making a wise choice
when selecting an ASP, including the use of a Service Level Agreement (SLA)
The ASP Buyers Guide is available at the ASPIC/CompTIA Web site.
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