The biggest stumbling block to successful ASP deployment among large enterprises is the legacy of client/server. Software application development house MIP warns that the ASP trend will not take off as quickly as the market expects for two reasons: there is no such thing as partial application outsourcing, and ASP is only efficient and cost effective if the IT infrastructure is fully integrated.
MIP believes that only an aggressive ASP strategy will deliver a return to the client. The application development house, which recently secured its first multimillion rand international application development deal for its Astra and Astragen toolset, will offer a complete ASP service which, MIP maintains, will drastically reduce total cost of ownership of systems, and will expose the inefficiencies of a so-called "open" IT environments. This initiative will be underpinned by MIP`s Astra and Astragen toolset, designed to "glue" together an organisations` disparate systems. These tools, developed in Progress, can be applied across multiple platforms and applications.
MIP managing director Richard Firth maintains that it is impossible for companies to embrace the ASP model successfully unless they apply it to their entire IT infrastructure.
"Once an organisation applies an ASP model to a part of its IT infrastructure, that part cannot be integrated with other systems," Firth says. "It is impossible, for example, to outsource manufacturing and keep financials in-house, as the systems rely on an interchange of data to run the business.
Applying a total ASP model may seem extreme, but its application will uncover the excessive cost of ownership of disparate systems, Firth points out. "Without integration the full potential of IT systems cannot be maximised. More and more companies are finding that the price of flexibility in their systems is too high in the light of diminished functionality and interoperability."
"Over the next two years we will see a fundamental change in the IT industry" says Firth. "It will become more consumer-oriented, in that the customer investing in IT will want to see a return on investment in technology far sooner than he is today. By adopting an ASP model, organisations will realise a quicker ROI because their IT systems will be integrated, their monthly costs will be pegged, yet they will still have the freedom to apply appropriate software to a business need and know that it will be part of an integrated system."
Firth likens the model to SAP`s approach, but points out that SAP made the error of treating its solution as a single unit. "SAP was unable to adapt satisfactorily to unique business requirements. The packaged application solution makes for system "islands" that won`t talk to each other. The MIP solution gives the client both integration and flexibility - it`s the best of both worlds."
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