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The term ASP is an acronym for Application Service Provider.
There are many different flavors of ASPs but generally an ASP makes
applications available to you through their website and then charges you a subscription fee. By doing this it's
possible to eliminate many of the costs associated
with in-house implementations and also to reduce ongoing costs.
When you subscribe to our ASP service, its a bit like the traditional process
of buying software licenses because you get to use someone else's software
for a fee but its different in some very important ways. BFC has
developed a set of modules which are offered on an ASP basis that
capitalize on these differences in a big way.
The Search Cycle Is Easier
If you set out to implement in-house a custom built or
3rd party application you are planning to spend a lot of money up front
on hardware and software licenses so you have to get it right the first
time. This means expending a lot of effort during the search cycle
because a lot of money is at stake. With BFC you don't need to
worry about a large up front expenditure on licenses and hardware so you
can move quickly through the search cycle. If plans change along the way
you can change direction easily because you didn't have to mortgage the
company to buy hardware and software licenses.
Implementation is Easier
With an in-house implementation you need to configure,
purchase, and install hardware, install application software, and ensure
that performance of your operating environment is adequate. With
BFC, you don't need to worry about this because none of the application
runs at your site. Your users access the application through their
browsers and BFC worries about the technology.
Maintenance is Easier
With an in-house implementation, once you've installed
your hardware and software and implemented your application you need to
maintain the operating environment. That means paying for
expensive staff who will make sure that the application continues to
operate well as time goes on. With BFC, the applications don't
need to be maintained by your staff so you don't need to worry about
this either.
Support is Readily Available
When you buy a product from a 3rd party, you pay the
vendor the bulk of their fees up front in the form of a license
fee. You then pay them an annual maintenance fee which entitles
you to both software upgrades and support. If the support isn't
good there isn't much you can do about it. You have to continue to
pay the maintenance fee to keep your software up-to-date. If you
build in house it can be even worse. Staff turnover can leave you
with an application that nobody understands. With BFC, we don't
get all of our money up front so we need to provide you with excellent
support every day.
Upgrades
When you need to upgrade your in-house product you have
to pay people to plan and implement the upgrade. If it doesn't go
well, it's your problem and you have to pay to fix it. With BFC,
your staff don't need to apply upgrades. We worry about that with
no charge to you.
Disaster Recovery
And when you install a new in-house application you need
to take disaster recovery into account. What will you do if your
application is down for a day or even a week? With BFC that's our
problem - not yours.
Its Faster
When you shorten your search cycle and your implementation timeline, you can
start enjoying the benefits of your applications much sooner.
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