ASP Essay
The term Application Service Provider describes companies that supply software applications and software-related services over the Internet. The Application Service Provider (ASP) owns and operates a software application, as well as operates and maintains the servers and employees the people needed to maintain the application.
Subscribing to an ASP allows a company to avoid the purchasing, installing and supporting, and upgrading expenses that go along with software applications. Businesses choose to subscribe to an ASP based on economic factors driven by frequency of use and the cost of entry and maintenance much in the same way a business chooses other service providers, such as shipping or electrical companies. Businesses use shipping and electrical companies to provide services to them because it would be far too expensive for a company to operate its own distribution network as well as generate electricity for its self. Therefore, businesses use theses service providers to lower the incremental cost of these processes much in the same way subscribing to an ASP lowers the cost of software (1).
The advantages of using an ASP are extremely attractive for small businesses that want to take advantage high cost, specialized software. Subscribing to an ASP allows the company to be able to do more with less infrastructure and fewer people, thus allowing a company with smaller resources to have a competitive edge. Read more…