'Irrelevant': The damning verdict on ASPs

NEWS ASPs "are not relevant" to most businesses, which claim they're constantly being let down by late delivery of the technology, poor service levels and inflated prices. According to a survey released today by The User Group (TUG) entitled Who will survive the downturn, most respondents believe the ASP model is "not relevant to most businesses". Michael Chapman Pincher, chairman of TUG, said it is clear that people are tired of what he calls the "same old problems" regarding pricing and functionality, with organisations continually being let down by late delivery and over-pricing. He added: "To me there has always been a clear alliance between software providers and telcos - it's like trying to play solitaire, but with one card missing and that card happens to be the customer's." David Yuile, managing director of ASP Interliant UK, refuted the findings and told silicon.com: "I don't believe that. I feel that on an outsourcing basis, our customers feel comfortable with our pricing." However, he did concede that many companies have been talked into renting their applications from ASPs who "did not know what they were taking about". TUG's Chapman Pincher said many companies had tried renting applications but gave up after becoming frustrated with service levels. He added: "What these companies thought they were getting rid of in headache terms were coming back in headache terms." Yuile disagreed, claiming many companies "do not truly understand internal IT costs" and how beneficial outsourcing can be. However, Yuile did admit to one of the criticisms in the survey that ASPs, including Interliant, were sometimes guilty of a "lack of responsiveness". The survey questioned 189 companies worldwide, representing 2.5 million corporate users.