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The Internet is changing the way business is conducted. One change will be the way that businesses access and use software. instead of buying all their software outright, companies will rent much of it from an application service provider (ASP).
This is becoming necessary as companies seek out new ways to remain competitive in today's fast-paced global economy. To do this, it's critical that, corporations:
Focus on their core competencies.
Rapidly change in response to market needs. Keep their costs firmly under control.
At the same time, to maintain their competitiveness, companies must employ and continue to invest in state-of-the-art computer systems and software. Doing this while simultaneously minimizing costs is challenging because:
New hardware is often needed to run the software.
Software has a non-trivial purchase price.
Capable IT staff are hard to find, expensive to keep trained, and difficult to retain.
Software is evolving rapidly with valuable upgrades.
ASPS represent a new approach to solving these problems; offering selected software functionality delivered over the Internet. The concept is simple - instead of purchasing an application outright, you rent...