EXCLUSIVE: Security fears put the brakes on ASP adoption

NEWS According to a survey carried out by silicon.com for systems integrator Logical, application service provision will not live up to its early promise unless these concerns are addressed swiftly. Steve Moxey, director of infrastructure for Logical, said the survey showed that firms are still having massive problems with their ebusiness implementations. He told silicon.com: "Security continues to be fundamental to ebusiness. If you can't trust customers' suppliers and partners then ebusiness ceases to happen." The survey indicated that only 35 per cent of respondents are considering using an ASP, whereas 54 per cent favour the traditional outsourcing model. Jonathan Moss, CEO at ASP iProvide, said the results showed the market still had a long way to go before it properly took off, and that ASPs need to focus on security, not functionality. He added: "There are plenty of ASPs who don't focus on security, but instead concentrate on application delivery. They are at risk of failing if they don't realise that customers are worried about that." The poll also found that the delivery of "cutting edge" technology was bottom of IT directors' priorities for ASP services. Robert Dickie, IT manager at engineering firm McKean, added a cautionary note. "We wouldn't consider using an ASP because as a small business you need as many assets as possible to keep you going. We don't want software that we have to give up the moment we have a cash flow problem and can't afford to pay the monthly rent," he said. However, despite the ongoing concerns of IT managers, James Eibisch, research manager at IDC, said the ASP industry will take heart from the poll. He said: "I'm very surprised the figure of those considering using ASPs is as high as it is. Considering there are very few mainstream services available, this figure is very encouraging - given this, what will it be like in one year's time when the technology has matured?" The survey questioned 110 IT professionals.