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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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When your ASP becomes a statistic

By Dan Blacharski, Special to ZDNet
April 12, 2001
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/When-your-ASP-becomes-a-statistic/0,139023166,120215002,00.htm

The growth of the application service provider (ASP) model has given you and your business the unparalleled convenience of letting someone else manage your applications. That's why I'm convinced that ASPs are here to stay.

But the economic downturn has undeniably taken a bite out of the current crop of ASPs. Unfortunately, all the preparation in the world can't prevent some disasters. What do you do when your ASP becomes a statistic in the tragic tale of tech fallout? Read on.

ASP collapse happens to the best
When iSearch, a provider of Web-based hiring solutions, announced that it would cancel its services, its customers--including big players such as Sears and Intel--suddenly found themselves with no applicant-tracking system and no corporate job sites.

"We didn't realise until close of business on Friday that iSearch was going out of business on Monday," says Ronan McCann, Internet recruiting manager at Intel. Considering they had such short notice, iSearch's customers got lucky: BrassRing Systems stepped in with its own Talent Relationship Management system. Sears and Intel, thanks to their solid familiarity with the ASP marketplace, got their recruiting systems back up and running within days.

Don't get caught short
In the event your ASP bites the dust, you need to be just as prepared. In the case of Web-based recruiting services, says Mark Lange, vice president of marketing and business development at BrassRing Systems, "they no longer have an individual presence on the Web. Large accounts run their own constant awareness advertising that drives candidate traffic to their corporate job sites. If those sites go dark all of a sudden, it has a negative impact on the company's brand equity."

As you decide whether to sign up or renew a contract, you'll need to examine more than just the cost of your ASP. Lange says a company must get "very smart, very quickly about what alternatives are out there to support them." In other words, research alternatives before you need them. Stability is the key: look for an ASP with a proven track record and major clients. Experts also advise that you hunt for an ASP with solid financial backing. (Don't be afraid to ask an ASP you're investigating for funding data.)

Back that ASP up
Intel's McCann also cautions ASP users to have a backup system in place. "If your ASP goes out of business, your data is still with your ASP," he notes. "You've got to look at either getting some sort of backup or even just a regularly scheduled raw database dump."

Although the iSearch failure came out of the blue, "at a high level, none of us were surprised that this industry would start to shake out," says Lange. "You're seeing this in a lot of categories of software. I predict there will be other changes within a matter of weeks." Translation: Be prepared!