Service Providers ASPs, ISPs, MSPs, NSPs, and WSPs

This book is a guide to Internet-enabled services from a technology and business perspective. While the landscape of technology-related services is ever changing, several have emerged as key players in the service provider market—Internet service providers (ISPs), application service providers (ASPs),wireless service providers (WSPs), management service providers (MSPs),and other xSPs. These service providers allow businesses to outsource Internet,software, and other technology needs ranging from email and faxes to enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) in an easy, cost-effective, and efficient manner. Alternatives to in-house technology can serve to tighten internal control over the total cost of project ownership while creating a managed, secure, customer-centric infrastructure.

This book will point out commonalties, highlight enabling technologies, and develop guidelines for strategic partnerships between various service offerings.Trust is a critical selling point in convincing management of any business or organization to transfer important in-house data to an outside provider. The decision makers must be certain that a service provider can demonstrate that its infrastructure is better, faster, and cheaper than one the organization can produce internally. To win the business, the service provider must provide professional staffing, first-rate equipment, and proven procedures, in addition to computer processing and network capacity. To keep the business, it must under-promise and consistently over-deliver.