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Application Services Providers (ASPs) are
changing the face of the meeting planning software industry – providing
software as a service rather than a product. Similar to paying a monthly charge for water or lights,
software companies will lease their software and support on a yearly or a
transaction basis. In many cases, these products are less costly than their
“shrink-wrapped” counterparts.
There are hundreds of new meeting
industry-related ASPs coming online providing a wide range of technology
services including registration, budgeting
meetings consolidation, meeting management, travel management, marketing,
communications automation, e-RFPs, travel, surveys, expense reporting and much
more. The web browser is the common interface for access these services
providing a familiar cross-platform tool for the planner, staff and clients to
use.
But planners should have many questions:
Will these products meet my needs? Are they robust and secure enough to replace
the software I currently am using? How do I evaluate them? Will the companies
still be here in a year or two? This
article will address a number of these questions and provide an extensive
88-question checklist of evaluation questions to ask.
The Future: I believe that ASPs will ultimately become
the accepted way that software is distributed . The days of buying
shrink-wrapped products requiring installation and tweaking on each computer and
on the network will seem as old-fashioned as writing the programs yourself.
The days of paying large sums to web developers to build customized web
applications will be gone. Instead, you will either lease the software on a
yearly basis or pay on a transaction basis, as for example for a registration or
a room night booked. There will be many potholes along the way, however. It is
likely that at least half of the current “dot.com” ASPs will either be
acquired by other companies or simply go out of business. The surviving
companies, will drive a very different way of doing business.
Benefits of the ASP: As
the business process dives into a web-based model, APS provide a number of
benefits over building and hosing web applications yourself.
Reliability and Security: Many
of the companies providing these services are built on very secure and
multi-redundant architectures. Hosting is often done in “server-farms”
where the full-time job is protecting, maintaining and backing up data. |
Commonly 99+% uptime is offered. Help desk,
backup, disaster recovery, security, network monitoring and remote problem
solutions are included. Unless your company has a very large IS department, it
would be exceedingly hard to match this level of reliability and protection.
Anytime-Anywhere Access: As
these service typically rely on the web for distribution, the planner or client
can access to the data 24/7 from any web browser.
Common Interface and Ease of Training: Planners
and clients already have the necessary tools sitting on their computer – the
Web browser. It is a familiar interface and it is cross platform --
Macs, PCs, and large enterprise networks can use it.
Complexity:
ASPs are evolving to handle very complex tasks to meet the variety of needs
requested by a range clients. These development costs can be in the millions of
dollars. For example, APSs handling registration can accommodate very complex,
multi-day, multi-session, multi-payment programs to meet these needs. It would
be very costly for a company to develop such a full-featured application on its own.
Using an ASP takes advantage of the collective needs and experiences of the
clients the ASP services.
Upgrades:
A web year is like a dog year—very much can change in that short time. ASPs
are constantly upgrading their tool set based on high volume experience. Product
upgrades are included in the transaction fees and require no intervention, or
tweaking the system, or reconfiguring the network on your part.
Total cost of ownership: Often
times when to total cost of ownership is calculated (the software and IS support
to install, maintain, and upgrade the software), an ASP model is less expensive.
Typically upgrades, for example, require no changes from the client end.
However, even with the above benefits,
planners should proceed cautiously. As mentioned earlier, many of providers may
not be around in a year or two, so due diligence is necessary. The following is a compilation of questions to ask and think
about as you are narrowing down what would the best ASP choice for you. Parts of
this list were provided thought he courtesy of SeeUThere (www.seeuthere.com)
and Npower (www.npower.org).
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