ASP
Author:
Daisy Downes
[Fulltext] Accounts, payroll, email, and e-commerce are amongst the applications that your company might consider outsourcing to an Application Service Provider (ASP). Why? Because, in theory, having your applications hosted by a third party cuts down on your IT costs. Instead of buying the equipment, software and expertise that you need to grow and manage your business, you rent what you need on a 'pay-as-you-go' basis. And that, at least in theory, means that you have 24/7 support and access to the most up-to-date applications. It also means that you don't have to worry about your network or your software so you free up time to focus on your business and improve your bottom line.
It sounds good, but is this just more Internet hype? Opinion on ASP at the moment is divided. While there is no shortage of companies with ASP offerings. neither is there much evidence that their potential customers are ready yet to trust Internet-based outsourcing solutions. Recent research in the US has characterized the ASP market there as "immature and fragmented". Analysts at Gartner Group are predicting that the ASP market will be in a constant phase of reinvention for the foreseeable future.
Rebecca Scholl, senior analyst with Gartner Dataquest's IT services group, strikes a cautious note: "Despite some high-profile contracts in the past few years, many potential customers still regard finance and accounting processes as too strategically important to their business to be entrusted to outsourcing vendors."
On the other hand, a lot of the big players are out there in the ASP marketplace. Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP are all offering ASP products. Closer to home, one of the most high-profile companies in the sector is BuildOnline who recently announced a strategic alliance with BT to deliver online services to the Construction industry throughout the U.K. BT will deliver BuildOnline software for the project management, collaboration and tendering on commercial and civil projects.
In France, where the government has passed a law requiring medium-sized and large companies to submit tax returns over the Internet for the fiscal year 2002/3 and beyond, ASP-One EUROPE has won a �15.2 million bid to develop and operate a tax declaration portal. In a five-year agreement with the French Council of the Order of Chartered Accountants (Conseil Supérieur de l'Ordre des Experts-Comptables) ASP-One will provide accounting firms with a single, secure, Internet portal for electronic transmission of all tax and payroll submissions in France.
Henri Ganancia, President of ASP-One says that this project also is a milestone for the growing ASP industry itself. "This illustrates just how powerful a business tool the Internet has become."
In the US, Intacct Corp. is upping the ante among ASP accounting software packages by planning to add an audit and review program to its ASP offering. Deloitte & Touche will supply the content for the new program while Intacct will provide the engineering and will host the application which will feature audit management, analysis, sample selection, electronic confirmation functions, and access to background check services.
A personalised cash book accounting service that accountants can offer to their clients over the Internet has been launched by Transaction Technology in the UK. eCash, the first IRIS ASP offering, enables clients to record their business transactions online via a link on the accountant's web site. The accountant can then transfer the data collected directly into IRIS accounts production - with substantial time-savings in the production of final accounts, and benefits for practitioner and client alike.
On the Irish market, GFK Technology is just launching its own ASP product. Accountants 2 Business manager, David Gough says, "The outlook here is changing and this is the business model that is going to work in the future." Gough explains that the benefits of the A2B ASP for accountants in practice are 24 hour secure access to client accounting information, increased productivity, increased working efficiencies, increased management information, increased client goodwill, and increased profitability.
If you are considering outsourcing your IT to an ASP, bear in mind that alongside the potential advantages, there are some disadvantages. You won't own the software or servers so you won't control them. You will need to be confident that the company you select can meet your security requirements. You should also make sure that the company you select is large enough, committed enough, and well-financed enough to keep up with the latest technology and to give you the confidence that it will be able to match your needs on an ongoing basis.
Websites of companies referred to in this article:
www.a2b.ie
www.greatplains.com/hosting
www.oracle.com/hosting
www.sap-ag.de/solutions/application_hosting
www.asp-one.com
www.ttsoftware.co.uk
www.buildonline.ie
www.takefive.ie