I found this interesting article by Cisco Systems: http://www.cisco.com/web/about/security/intelligence/asp-eval.html
Essentially it highlights the importance of using a secure application service provider and outlines Cisco Systems’ criteria for identifying one.
As we have previously discussed, there are numerous benefits associated with using an application service provider. However, there can be some issues with security. These issues can, of course, be alleviated using resources such as the link above. But I would like to touch on why businesses need to be aware of security concerns and careful when choosing an application service provider.
When a company uses an ASP, they are basically giving data to a third party for a specific purpose. One can clearly see the risks with such an action. Handing over data for any company is no small task – not only is the volume of data often large, its security is vital to the company’s success. This data can include anything from client information to trade secrets. A company cannot afford loss of data or loss of security. That’s why there is an enormous amount of pressure on application service providers to provide security and safeguards for every client’s data.
ASPs need to be financially secure and trustworthy, as they are often tasked with handling sensitive data. Companies should be aware of an ASP’s reputation and have a close connection with the ASP if there is to be a successful relationship.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
The Benefits of Using an Application Service Provider, Continued
Last post I discussed some of the benefits of using Application Service Providers. Allow me to go right ahead and continue from where we left off:
4. Accessibility
Let’s take the example company we used in the last post. This company has locations around the world, and thousands of employees. These employees are located in different time zones, have different sleeping habits, different responsibilities… Using an ASP means that these employees can access their required programs any day, any time, from anywhere. It’s expected that the content will always be up-to-date and ready to use, meaning that employees will be able to access the latest software and data whenever they need. As I mentioned in the last post, having this software in one place, on servers hosted by the ASP, allows constant access for a company’s employees.
5. Simplification/Consolidation of Data
We have discussed the fact that using an ASP allows a company to access software easily, saving it time and money. These general benefits are certainly important, but I’d also like to address a benefit that may not be as obvious. A feature that many ASPs include as part of their programs is data tracking. This means that as users complete certain tasks, data is recorded for later viewing. As an example, if a company was using a training program, the software would likely track the courses completed by the company’s employees. An ASP can then take this data and simplify it for viewing, a feature associated with reporting. The result? Administrators and users are able to access simple, easy-to-read data located in one place, a major advantage for large businesses.
I hope I’ve given you some insight into the positive qualities of Application Service Providers. The industry is difficult to understand, but with these posts, hopefully you’ve been getting a clearer vision of what it is that we do!
4. Accessibility
Let’s take the example company we used in the last post. This company has locations around the world, and thousands of employees. These employees are located in different time zones, have different sleeping habits, different responsibilities… Using an ASP means that these employees can access their required programs any day, any time, from anywhere. It’s expected that the content will always be up-to-date and ready to use, meaning that employees will be able to access the latest software and data whenever they need. As I mentioned in the last post, having this software in one place, on servers hosted by the ASP, allows constant access for a company’s employees.
5. Simplification/Consolidation of Data
We have discussed the fact that using an ASP allows a company to access software easily, saving it time and money. These general benefits are certainly important, but I’d also like to address a benefit that may not be as obvious. A feature that many ASPs include as part of their programs is data tracking. This means that as users complete certain tasks, data is recorded for later viewing. As an example, if a company was using a training program, the software would likely track the courses completed by the company’s employees. An ASP can then take this data and simplify it for viewing, a feature associated with reporting. The result? Administrators and users are able to access simple, easy-to-read data located in one place, a major advantage for large businesses.
I hope I’ve given you some insight into the positive qualities of Application Service Providers. The industry is difficult to understand, but with these posts, hopefully you’ve been getting a clearer vision of what it is that we do!
Friday, July 25, 2008
The Benefits of Using an Application Service Provider
Imagine you are part of a large company. The company owns offices in 6 different countries, not to mention multiple locations in the country in which it is based. The company is responsible for training fifteen hundred employees, all of whom also need a certain program to perform their tasks. Is the company going to have them travel all over the globe to attend classes, and is the company going to buy software for each of its business locations, and for each employee? There must be some sort of centralized system to complete these tasks effectively.
This example illustrates a situation in which an application service provider would be helpful. Let’s analyze why:
1. Time Efficiency
Communication over the internet is extraordinarily rapid, often instantaneous. A large company, busy with its day-to-day functions and work, doesn’t have much extra time to spend coordinating its employees and locations. It needs to maintain fast and effective contact. Using an application service provider (ASP) allows a client to access programs from anywhere, as long as he/she has an internet connection. This means that as long as the ASP maintains its servers, the services are available 24/7, a huge advantage for large businesses.
2. Cost Efficiency
This one goes along with time efficiency, in a way. There are several practical areas in which a company saves money by using an ASP. One is travel costs. Flying employees from around the country, or across the world, to a certain location is extremely expensive and difficult to coordinate. Not only does using an ASP eliminate travel requirements, it also eliminates the need for renting space and paying instructors for training. Using online training through an ASP is considerably less expensive than using traditional in-class instruction at a specific location.
3. Organization
Downloading and updating software for hundreds (or thousands) of employees can become a big mess, and at the very least is time-consuming and a hassle. Using an ASP means that everything that an employee needs is located in one place, easy to access, and well-organized. Because all the information is located in the same area on the web and there is no need to download or update anything, employees can easily complete whatever task needs to be done in the shortest amount of time. Tracking features are often included on web-based applications, which provide both administrators and users a simple way of organizing data.
Next week, I’ll continue this post and discuss Accessibility and Simplification/Consolidation of Data. Stay tuned!
This example illustrates a situation in which an application service provider would be helpful. Let’s analyze why:
1. Time Efficiency
Communication over the internet is extraordinarily rapid, often instantaneous. A large company, busy with its day-to-day functions and work, doesn’t have much extra time to spend coordinating its employees and locations. It needs to maintain fast and effective contact. Using an application service provider (ASP) allows a client to access programs from anywhere, as long as he/she has an internet connection. This means that as long as the ASP maintains its servers, the services are available 24/7, a huge advantage for large businesses.
2. Cost Efficiency
This one goes along with time efficiency, in a way. There are several practical areas in which a company saves money by using an ASP. One is travel costs. Flying employees from around the country, or across the world, to a certain location is extremely expensive and difficult to coordinate. Not only does using an ASP eliminate travel requirements, it also eliminates the need for renting space and paying instructors for training. Using online training through an ASP is considerably less expensive than using traditional in-class instruction at a specific location.
3. Organization
Downloading and updating software for hundreds (or thousands) of employees can become a big mess, and at the very least is time-consuming and a hassle. Using an ASP means that everything that an employee needs is located in one place, easy to access, and well-organized. Because all the information is located in the same area on the web and there is no need to download or update anything, employees can easily complete whatever task needs to be done in the shortest amount of time. Tracking features are often included on web-based applications, which provide both administrators and users a simple way of organizing data.
Next week, I’ll continue this post and discuss Accessibility and Simplification/Consolidation of Data. Stay tuned!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Application Service Providers
In the last blog I discussed the difficulties of marketing our services. I did not delve into what it is that we do, though. In this post, I’m going to describe the Application Service Provider (ASP) business model and the services that ASPs provide.
Application Service Providers develop web-based software for their clients. The ASP umbrella encompasses many different types of businesses, and a business is certainly not limited to exclusively following an ASP model. In general, ASPs will create software and host servers, allowing their clients to access their services through the internet. The needs of clients vary greatly, so ASPs often have to develop very specific content for a certain client. On the other hand, many clients share certain needs, and sometimes an application framework can be manipulated only slightly for different clients.
The idea behind using an ASP is that the software is completely web-based. This makes it so that a client does not have to download anything or pursue any updates. It is the responsibility of the ASP to keep its services up-to-date. A major advantage to exclusively web-based services is accessibility. Because the company hosts the software, clients can simply log on to a website and start using the service right away. This is especially useful to big companies who are spread across many states or countries.
The ASP industry is extremely diverse and constantly changing, one of the reasons why it is difficult to give a general description of it. However, I hope that I’ve helped you to get a better understanding of ASPs and their purpose through this post. On the next blog, I’ll get more specific about the advantages of the ASP model.
Application Service Providers develop web-based software for their clients. The ASP umbrella encompasses many different types of businesses, and a business is certainly not limited to exclusively following an ASP model. In general, ASPs will create software and host servers, allowing their clients to access their services through the internet. The needs of clients vary greatly, so ASPs often have to develop very specific content for a certain client. On the other hand, many clients share certain needs, and sometimes an application framework can be manipulated only slightly for different clients.
The idea behind using an ASP is that the software is completely web-based. This makes it so that a client does not have to download anything or pursue any updates. It is the responsibility of the ASP to keep its services up-to-date. A major advantage to exclusively web-based services is accessibility. Because the company hosts the software, clients can simply log on to a website and start using the service right away. This is especially useful to big companies who are spread across many states or countries.
The ASP industry is extremely diverse and constantly changing, one of the reasons why it is difficult to give a general description of it. However, I hope that I’ve helped you to get a better understanding of ASPs and their purpose through this post. On the next blog, I’ll get more specific about the advantages of the ASP model.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The Challenges of Marketing Application Services
If someone asked me to describe what we do, I would say something like, “We provide web-based solutions to help maximize profit and efficiency for your business.” This is easy enough to understand – we develop programs, accessible online, that save your business time and money. Perhaps a little generic, but certainly accurate. The problem arises when we try to get more specific. People may ask, “What exactly do you create? What do your programs do?” It can get tricky here, because explaining our applications to those without an extensive background in the application service provider (ASP) industry can be a difficult task.
Allow me a moment for a quick sidebar. I ran our website through a website grader, which, among many other things, analyzed the education level required to read and understand the content on the site. The grader returned a rating of Advanced / Doctoral Degree. I was surprised and somewhat perturbed by this, though upon reflection, I realized that it just shows how difficult it is to convey the functions of our services.
I think the main reason for this is that our services are stooped deep in technology, and many of our clients are involved in telecommunications and very knowledgeable about the industry. They understand the language we use with ease, while others may consider it jargon.
So the question becomes, who do we want to read our site? Obviously we want as many people as possible to visit, but we do have a target audience. The challenge is keeping the language simple and understandable while accurately conveying all the key features of our services. As we broaden our target audience, we need to ensure that our content is coherent, but not lose any important information.
Allow me a moment for a quick sidebar. I ran our website through a website grader, which, among many other things, analyzed the education level required to read and understand the content on the site. The grader returned a rating of Advanced / Doctoral Degree. I was surprised and somewhat perturbed by this, though upon reflection, I realized that it just shows how difficult it is to convey the functions of our services.
I think the main reason for this is that our services are stooped deep in technology, and many of our clients are involved in telecommunications and very knowledgeable about the industry. They understand the language we use with ease, while others may consider it jargon.
So the question becomes, who do we want to read our site? Obviously we want as many people as possible to visit, but we do have a target audience. The challenge is keeping the language simple and understandable while accurately conveying all the key features of our services. As we broaden our target audience, we need to ensure that our content is coherent, but not lose any important information.
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