Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home IT Management
    • IT Management

    Software As a Service Is Poised for Rebound

    By
    Stan Gibson
    -
    October 25, 2004
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      You dont hear many people talking about ASPs, or application service providers, except in the past tense. Plenty of those ASPs bloomed and wilted with the dot-com boom and bust, but what those vendors did—provide applications on demand—is alive and well and poised for a rebound.

      This time, though, you might want to call it business process outsourcing, and you might want to call its vendors business service providers. Those were the terms being thrown around last week at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Orlando, Fla., where Gartner outsourcing analysts Linda Cohen and Allie Young gave their “Outsourcing Outlook” presentation.

      Cohen attributed much of the failure of ASPs to customers demanding extensive customization on the part of the service providers. That blew apart the ASPs business model, resulting in the subsequent marketplace carnage.

      She also suggests the time is right for business processes on demand. In her presentation, Cohen said companies need to find the applications they use that are not core to their business and that can be utilized as a commodity service. “Companies dont need to overspend on utility-type services,” she said.

      Vendors are creating utility offerings so you can buy business services and get software as a service. “Theyre creating capabilities and expecting that you will buy in new ways,” she said. Indeed, it does sound a lot like IBMs On Demand strategy and HPs Adaptive Enterprise, which those vendors have been working on for a couple of years.

      /zimages/1/28571.gifTo read more about IBMs On Demand computing, click here.

      Will the new model work where the old ASP model didnt? “The same thing could happen. If you dont accept things their way, theyll go out of business. You wont be able to get extensive customization. It will become a different operating model for providers. Either they will go out of business or they will dump you,” said Cohen.

      A word to the wise: Maybe everyone can get it right this time.

      Out and about

      Prior to the talk by cohen and Young, Gartner presented its analysts keynote, in which experts highlighted what they view as the main theme in IT today: The use of service-oriented architectures will lead to the “agile enterprise” of tomorrow. Companies wont so much deploy applications as they will deploy an architecture that can be adapted to run applications of the moment.

      With that as a backdrop, EDS announced at Gartner its Agility Alliance, a set of partnerships with leading hardware and software vendors. The reason? Unlike rivals IBM and HP, EDS does not make hardware or software. While this has enabled EDS in the past to claim vendor agnosticism and make a best-of-breed pitch to prospective customers with regard to the vendors it works with, in practice, EDS consultants were acquiring a diverse portfolio of expertise that was, well, just a bit too diverse.

      Instead of spreading expertise thinly across many vendors technologies, EDS aims to concentrate that expertise on just a few industry leaders, thereby cutting training costs and maintaining a portfolio of skills that can be broadly applied. Initial members of the alliance are Cisco, Dell, EMC, Microsoft, Sun and Xerox.

      EDS touts the $13.6 billion combined R&D budgets of these partners, which is, at least to some degree, being spent on EDS behalf. EDS officials claim that by getting close to these vendors and their future technologies, EDS can gain insight it can use to steer its customers technology architectures. To be announced in the coming months are EDS application and business process partners.

      Meanwhile, IDC and Meta Group announced offshore outsourcing research numbers: Both predict 20 percent annual revenue growth. This growth exceeds that of outsourcing generally, a conclusion Gartners Cohen and Young also expressed in their talk. Meta said most IT organizations will have an offshore strategy by 2006.

      IDC said the worldwide market for offshore IT services will grow from nearly $7 billion in 2003 to $17 billion by 2008. Most offshore spending by U.S. companies will be on applications, particularly custom application development, application management and systems integration, IDC reports.

      Stan Gibson can be reached at stan_gibson@ziffdavis.com.

      To read more Stan Gibson, subscribe to eWEEK magazine.

      /zimages/1/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms Web Services Center for the latest news, reviews and analysis in Web services.

      Stan Gibson
      Stan Gibson is Executive Editor of eWEEK. In addition to taking part in Ziff Davis eSeminars and taking charge of special editorial projects, his columns and editorials appear regularly in both the print and online editions of eWEEK. He is chairman of eWEEK's Editorial Board, which received the 1999 Jesse H. Neal Award of the American Business Press. In ten years at eWEEK, Gibson has served eWEEK (formerly PC Week) as Executive Editor/eBiz Strategies, Deputy News Editor, Networking Editor, Assignment Editor and Department Editor. His Webcast program, 'Take Down,' appeared on Zcast.tv. He has appeared on many radio and television programs including TechTV, CNBC, PBS, WBZ-Boston, WEVD New York and New England Cable News. Gibson has appeared as keynoter at many conferences, including CAMP Expo, Society for Information Management, and the Technology Managers Forum. A 19-year veteran covering information technology, he was previously News Editor at Communications Week and was Software Editor and Systems Editor at Computerworld.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×