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NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: JEB BOLDING on
APPLICATION SERVICE PROVIDERS 01/09/02 Today's focus: Closeness and trust Dear Wincenty Kaminski, In this issue: * Physical proximity and branding are top selection criteria * Links related to ASPs * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ WEBINAR: SUCCESSFULLY INTEGRATING YOUR NEXT GENERATION OSS APPLICATIONS Tune into this Webinar from RiverSoft/Network World and discover how integrating your OSS can maximize network availability, increase revenues and improve customer satisfaction. Learn more now. http://nww1.com/go/0107river18C.html _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: Closeness and trust By Jeb Bolding It's becoming apparent that in the future users will choose service providers based upon their physical proximity and the level of trust they inspire. Customers want to see and touch their service provider. No doubt customers will want to take advantage of distributed applications. However, they also want a representative of the service provider to be local to them, so that they can have someone on site if there is a problem or if some planning within the enterprise needs to take into consideration the relationship with the provider. The level of trust is related to branding. Right or wrong, service provider users are concerned with the viability of their potential partners. Seasoned service providers that have name recognition will have the upper hand against their lesser- known brethren. Smaller service providers could potentially offer better products, better features, better support, and better service-level agreements than bigger providers. But in the market today, that probably won't make much of a difference. Newer, smaller providers face the dilemma of spending money that they don't have on marketing and promotions that they need in order to acquire additional customers and funding. In studies Enterprise Management Associates has conducted over the past year, the key rationales behind choosing a provider have shifted from monetary concerns to trust-based concerns. EMA has found that name recognition is the primary criterion used to select among service providers that offer relatively equal sets of features - even at the expense of cost. Following name recognition is a local presence maintained by the service provider. It's probably apparent that these key criteria are also the same bases for choosing traditional outsourcing providers. This is why I have argued that service providers that have either a systems integrator arm or a channel of systems integrators have a particular strength over competitors. I expect, then, that over time we'll see either more direct entrants into the provider market from IBM and others, or indirect entrants from companies such as Ernst & Young. These companies already have tight partnerships with one or two service providers that have already spent the necessary millions to build out their infrastructure. _______________________________________________________________ To contact Jeb Bolding: Jeb Bolding is senior consultant with Enterprise Management Associates in Boulder, Colo., an analyst and market research firm focusing exclusively on enterprise management. Bolding has 10 years of experience in the network systems industry, most recently with eCollege.com, an ASP for higher education, where he was director of product development. He can be reached at mailto:jbolding@enterprisemanagement.com. _______________________________________________________________ Register your company on Buy IT, NW Fusion's Vendor Directory and RFP Center and generate new business quick and easy! Promote your brand across our network and access millions of dollars in RFPs. It's the most efficient way to connect with buyers of IT services. Get listed now! http://www.nwfusion.newmediary.com/091201nwwprovnwltr2 _______________________________________________________________ RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS Lesson learned: Have a back-up outsourcing plan Network World, 01/07/02 http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2002/128499_01-07-2002.html Breaking ASP news from Network World, updated daily: http://www.nwfusion.com/topics/asp.html Archive of the ASP newsletter: http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/asp/index.html ______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE Network World Fusion's The Edge site Network World Fusion's The Edge is a resource devoted to the advances in service-provider networks that are shaking up the old telecom order. In classic Network World fashion, we focus on the hardware, software and services coming to market - but this time from the vendors targeting legacy carriers, new alternative local carriers, ISPs and application service providers. http://www.nwfusion.com/edge/index.html _______________________________________________________________ May We Send You a Free Print Subscription? You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered at your fingertips each day. Now, extend your knowledge by receiving 51 FREE issues to our print publication. Apply today at http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/nl _______________________________________________________________ SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World e-mail newsletters, go to: http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/news/scripts/notprinteditnews.asp To unsubscribe from promotional e-mail go to: http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/ep To change your e-mail address, go to: http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/news/scripts/changeemail.asp Subscription questions? Contact Customer Service by replying to this message. Have editorial comments? Write Jeff Caruso, Newsletter Editor, at: mailto:jcaruso@nww.com For advertising information, write Jamie Kalbach, Director of Online Sales, at: mailto:jkalbach@nww.com Copyright Network World, Inc., 2002 ------------------------ This message was sent to: vkamins@enron.com
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