Failing ASPs Hurt Customers
from the ouch dept
One of the big problems with the ASP model of software is that if the company providing the software goes out of business the customers are totally screwed. Suddenly they lose all their data and applications. At least with an installed application, the product will keep working even after the provider goes out of business. This simple fact may be hurting the ASP business significantly.
Comments on “Failing ASPs Hurt Customers”
SLA's
When I helped set up the ASP business unit we had to include a safety catch in the service level agreement that if the company went bankrupt they would get a copy of all the necessary software to prevent a total loss of service (which made it much safer for companies to migrate their systems to an ASP model).
Re: SLA's
Yeah, I believe we covered the problems with ASPs in an eariler installment of techdirt…. There are usually escrow agreements or other arrangements… But it must still be pretty inconvenient no matter what sort of legal arrangements you’ve made….