The Application Service Provider (ASP) phenomenon is one of the major growth areas in international Internet markets but is a relatively new concept in South Africa. In response to this trend, Easirun Software has launched its own EasiASP web site.
According to Charmaine Strydom, managing director of Easirun Software, an ASP aims to provide companies with shared access to sophisticated software applications, via the Internet, that they would not otherwise be able to afford or develop.
"International experiences suggest that companies can make use of this concept to get more rapid deployment of applications or circumvent a shortage of in-house IT skills," she said.
EasiASP is aimed specifically at the Impact user market as Impact`s user-base in South Africa is mainly in the SME sector. Easirun Software is widely regarded as the leading developer of add-ons for Impact users and targeting EasiASP at the Impact market is a logical step.
"We do not intend competing with ASPs that provide popular packages on a shared basic. Rather, we are focussing on the development of unique, sophisticated applications that will not be available anywhere else and that exploit the data held within Impact," said Strydom.
A sophisticated EIS demonstration system is up and running (www.easirun.co.za) that provides slice and dice sales analysis capabilities that would be financially out-of-reach for most SMEs. With EasiASP, Impact users can access the system for an affordable monthly fee, and as it is Internet-based, any staff member with Internet access can use the system no matter where they are located.
The system works by extracting data from the Impact database and uploading it securely to the EasiASP web site where it is used to update the user`s data.
"The upload can be at any frequency and can even be on a trickle feed basis which ensures that the sales data is virtually up to date at all times."
Easirun anticipates that EasiASP will appeal to Impact users with staff spread over a wide geographic area. Besides branch staff, this could include sales executives on the road checking sales and debtor status. EasiASP will also allow an SME to implement rudimentary business-to-supplier and business-to-customer e-commerce. This would be prohibitively expensive if developed exclusively for a single client.
"Shared costs are the secret of a successful ASP. What might be unaffordable for one customer is now easily affordable for many customers because they all share the cost of the application and the infrastructure, whilst the Internet eliminates the need for a dedicated network," said Strydom.
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