ASP Box

With all the options available, customers are bound to think the application service provider (ASP) industry has taken on a new motto: “If you can’t convince them, confuse them.”

Customer awareness, consideration and even adoption of the ASP model are on the upswing, but most customers are still perplexed by the bewildering array of ASP offerings, pricing, service and business models.

Obviously, the “right” ASP for one customer isn’t necessarily the best choice for another. To get a “best-fit” ASP, customers must sort through a lot of jargon and hype. Customers looking for an ASP that will mesh with their business, technical and strategic requirements, can start with the checklist below:

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* Inventory business needs. Before evaluating specific ASPs, assess your company’s reasons for considering hosted solutions and weigh potential trade-offs between in-house and

hosted deployments.

* Inventory ASP basics. After internal soul-searching, start the detective work. Gather data about the ASP’s size and reputation, market and solution experience, and existing customer

base. An ASP that does business with similar companies may be able to deploy and support your business more effectively than one serving other markets.

* Assess the architecture. Does the ASP have an open, flexible and scalable architecture to allow for integration with new solutions? Over time, you may want to provision many hosted applications and won’t want to hire a systems integrator to make them all work together.

* Decode the data center. Some ASPs have their own data centers, while others contract with third-party capacity service providers for infrastructure services. In either case, scrutinize the infrastructure on which your solution will run.

* Evaluate security. On the Internet, security is everyone’s business. Does the ASP deploy tools and procedures to seek out “real world” and virtual security problems? What will it do to prevent or remove them?

* Size up sales, service and support. The “S” in ASP stands for service. Look for ASPs that provide dedicated account management, help desks and adequate geographic coverage.

* Add up pricing. Pricing is one of the most confusing issues in the ASP market. Some ASPs may bury hidden costs within their pricing models. To make sure you’re comparing

apples with apples, find out how comprehensive the subscription fee is and whether network connections or implementation cost extra.

* Read the fine print. Service-level agreements (SLAs) promise specific levels of reliability, availability, scalability and response times to support incidents. But today’s SLA

waters are very muddy. Though most ASPs offer some type of SLA, it is often poorly documented and can be difficult to interpret.

ASPs should answer these questions:

* What level(s) of continuous application availability will the ASP provide?

* What components of the total solution are covered?

* What types of response times will the ASP guarantee?

* What kind of penalties apply if the ASP fails to live up to its SLA?

By using this checklist, customers can streamline the ASP selection process and create a shortlist more quickly. And, as customers become more savvy about hosting, ASPs will need to ask themselves the same questions ? to see if they will make the cut. Laurie McCabe is vice president and service director of Summit Strategies Inc., an

independent market strategy, research and consulting services firm based in Boston.