If the user inputs data, the data too is stored securely in a remote facility, which might well be in a different city and state. The user's company typically pays a monthly fee for each user who needs access to the service. In effect, these companies are simply leasing their software services rather than buying them.
The ASP model has certain significant economic benefits to companies who use this method of outsourcing:.
Setup time for services acquired via the ASP model are much shorter than the time a company requires for setting up a similar IT capability internally.
Because ASPs serve many customers, they can realize economies of scale in service delivery that are not available to individual customers. This results in a much lower cost of delivering IT services to individual firms. .
Also as opposed to large up-front cash outlays and only eventual and uncertain benefits, the ASP model requires only modest setup fees, with additional payments due after service delivery begins. This provides ASP users with a better match between benefit and risk than the traditional requirements to acquire IT capabilities. .
By operating via the Internet, ASPs also enjoy 99.999 percent availability allowing for 24/7 business operations by users. .
Outsourcing to an ASP can also reduce or even eliminate the need for internal IT staff. .
Lastly, the ASP model provides support for a mobile workforce. Any user who can successfully identify himself or herself to the system can access the same functionality and data regardless of his or her location.
HOW DOES JAMCRACKER FIT IN THE ASP SPACE?.
Part of discussing the ASP space requires an outline of the product that was offered by Jamcracker. Jamcracker was not an ASP; instead, it cooperated with ASP partners to combine application services through its enterprise IT management platform. For example, as ASP that provided e-mail applications and another that provided desktop productivity applications could, via Jamcracker technology, appear to the customer as an integrated service package.
