The Application Service Provision model : could this be the future of software delivery?
Authors
Mullarney, Etain
Issue Date
2001
Degree
BA (Hons) in Business Information Management
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
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Abstract
The Software Industry is set for an overhaul. Information Technology is further infiltrating the 'Value Chain' and creating new revenue streams for those who embrace it. A new, strategic method for software delivery and management is evolving -The Application Service Provisioning Model. Will this be the future of Software delivery? The purpose of this dissertation is to provide an overview of this new and emerging method for software delivery and management. The dissertation therefore purports to analyses the ASP model, how it is defined, its characteristics, drivers and inhibitors. Furnished with this analysis, it will then be possible to investigate the question of whether this will in fact be the future of software delivery. It is only through investigating the model, it's pro's and con's that a satisfactory answer can be formulated. This dissertation is divided into two main sections. The first section deals with my secondary research. This research was primarily web-based which is due to the fact that the ASP model is a very new and emerging area and as yet there have been no books published on this topic. This had the effect of limiting my bibliography to Internet sites, magazines and research reports. The purpose of the secondary research was to provide an overview of the ASP model. It is written in a business style and the intention was to try to curtail the prolific use of IT terminology to enable anyone (whether IT literate or not), who chooses to read the document, to walk away with a good understanding of the concept. The second section deals with Primary research. This research was completed from information collated through questionnaires sent to a random sample of companies with Ireland. The responses were poor from a qualitative perspective and as such it was necessary to conduct interviews over the phone and in some cases by calling into the company. This served to 'flesh out' the answers and also allowed for respondents themselves to get a better understanding of the ASP model and therefore give more informed answers. The aim of this research was to establish the level of awareness within Irish business for this new model and to evaluate the penetration level, if any. It also attempts to ascertain whether this model was deemed, by those respondents sampled to be the future of software delivery. The results tended to emulate findings from surveys carried out by research companies such as International Data Corporation (IDC). This survey was conducted to establish the level of familiarity with the concept. The results showed that only 50% of business executives were aware of its existence, but when the model was explained, all voiced an interest in it. It was the belief of all respondents to my questionnaire that this model was set to change the face of internal application management and would become the only method of software delivery. It was viewed that the cost savings it enjoys is a good enough reason for organisations to carry out a business case to establish the level of feasibility of operating this model within their own company. It is unfortunate that while conducting this study, that there has been a significant downturn in the technology sector. This has hit the ASP industry hard and is having the effect of slowing down the progress of this otherwise unstoppable technology.