Where the Customers Are
Like many Internet businesses, ASPs got ahead of themselves in estimating their markets, says Agiliti Chief Executive Tom Kieffer. “We assumed that things like messaging, storage and basic business services were the table stakes, but at this point, they are the game,” says Kieffer, who spent last year trying to sell more sophisticated packages of applications to his customers.
“The aggregation model just isnt hunting, because most companies today are trying to solve one problem at a time. They dont need a whole set of new apps. Complete, integrated packages are frankly more than the market is buying,” Kieffer says. That could bode ill for high-end aggregators like Jamcracker, he adds.
As for the efforts of legacy software vendors to serve ASP customers, he says, “Most companies are still in the lip service stage.” Expect Agiliti to announce some changes in the month ahead as it tries to move to where the business is.