The Essential Guide to Application Service Providers (Essential Guide Series) - Softcover

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JON WILLIAM TOIGO is an independent consultant with nearly 20 years of experience in corporate IT and business technology consulting. His clients have included AT&T, Cisco, Citrix, Compaq, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and a host of other technology producers and consumers. His nine books include The Holy Grail of Data Storage and Disaster Recovery Planning, Second Edition (Prentice Hall PTR). He has also published more than 1,000 articles in the business trade press.

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• The complete guide to defining-and using-the right ASP solutions
• How to manage the risks and opportunities of ASP relationships
• How to ensure performance, security, and reliability in ASP-supported applications

The practical guide to ASPs: strategies, tactics, implementation, and management.

Using Application Service Providers (ASPs) can save companies money, expedite the deployment of new enterprise applications, and enable the re-allocation of scarce resources to strategic business opportunities. Here's a complete guide to ASPs for every business decision-maker. In concise, easy-to-understand language, Jon William Toigo presents the business case for using ASP services, identifies the pitfalls and how to avoid them, explains the technologies supporting the services, and offers practical guidance on leveraging ASPs for maximum competitive advantage. The book answers important questions, including:

• How does ASP "out tasking" fit with familiar outsourcing and time-sharing approaches?
• Who are the leading ASPs, and what differentiates one vendor from another?
• What applications ASPs do offer: from desktop to enterprise, payroll to storage?
• How do ASPs deliver the goods using multi-tier client/server and Web technology?
• How can ASPs drive down the cost of owning and managing e-business infrastructure?
• How can ASPs facilitate supply chain management and business process management?
• What really needs to be considered when evaluating the ASP option?
• How can requirements be identified and specified to ensure that an ASP meets them?
• How can ASP performance be measured?
• What steps can be taken to safeguard key business processes from an ASP failure?

Drawing on real-world examples, this book offers a complete, step-by-step methodology for determining how and when to use ASPs, choosing the right provider, negotiating the best contract, deploying service efficiently, and managing ASP relationships for long-term success.

―Louis Columbus, Senior Analyst, AMR Research