Source: The ASP reincarnation - Computerworld.
Software as a service -- which typically eliminates hefty upfront license costs and requires little or no hardware or IT personnel to install, configure or maintain -- is growing in popularity among large corporations and small businesses alike. Last year's successful public stock offerings by fast-growing providers Salesforce.com Inc. and RightNow Technologies Inc. have shined a spotlight on a software delivery model reminiscent of the buzz surrounding application service providers (ASP) in the late 1990s.
Proponents of software as a service are quick with automotive metaphors for the traditional way of buying and deploying enterprise software: buying a $500,000 Ferrari while you can rent one just when you need to drive it, or buying a car in pieces -- engine, drive train, chassis, steering wheel and so on -- then putting it together yourself or paying a mechanic to assemble it for you.
"The ASPs of today are much more targeted. They identify a critical business need, and they solve it," agrees Frank Gillman, vice president of technology at law firm Allen Matkins Leck Gamble and Mallory LLP in Los Angeles. "So if you're a company that has that problem, you can solve it by writing one check and turning something on in two hours."
Spec Book Pro is software-as-a-service for interior design firms.
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