Application Service Providers (ASPs)- helpful information
ASPs provide access to business applications on demand via an Internet connection. These services can help empower your team for increased productivity and efficiency, as well as reducing the need for costly infrastructure setup.
Traditionally, companies have opted to purchase and maintain their own IT infrastructures, often finding themselves confronted with maintenace problems and expensive hardware upgrades. ASPs deliver a cost-effective alternative. Offering “hosted” applications, known also Software as a Service (SaaS). There is a growing range of business applications now being offered by ASPs including; ERP, Accounting, Sales Force Automation, CRM and more.
Articles
Adapting to Software as a Service- .With software-as-a-service contracts, the IT department gets to move away from the drudgery of application maintenance and support. Yet your team needs to figure out how to evaluate and manage these new arrangements
Understanding Application Service Providers
Traditionally, ASPs provided standard client/server applications with a bolted-on HTML (browser-enabled) front end. While there is a degree of confusion between ASPs and SaaS, SaaS applications are generally designed specifically for the Internet, hence the often-used term “net-native applications”.
How it works: At a fairly basic level, SaaS applications are run from within the user’s standard desktop Web browser. The application itself resides on the provider’s servers where it carries out all the underlying processes that support the application’s functionality. This can be likened very much to the increasingly popular thin-client IT model, where terminals provide a “window” to applications residing on and executed by application servers. In effect, you rent applications from the provider, who in turn takes on the responsibility of upgrading, managing and maintaining the applications.
Business benefits ASP or SaaS can deliver
Benefits of adopting an ASP/SaaS model for all or part of your software application requirements include:
a reduced total cost of ownership for your current and ongoing software requirements
a greater ability to focus your internal resources on building, rather than maintaining the business
reduction in the amount of time devoted to implementing, patching and upgrading applications
the ability to empower mobile workers by providing anywhere, anytime access to applications and data.
It’s important to note that not all applications are suited to ASP delivery or available as SaaS. There is, though, a wealth of feature-rich applications that are. It is important to do your research and testing before committing.
IT Directory
Take action today and talk with some of the ASPs or SaaS specialists in our directory to discuss your specific needs. Covering Australia wide- Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin, Canberra.