the most part, ASPs don't own the data centres that store the information. Instead, they lease space frome data storage specialists. In this way, they can be confident of meeting customers' increasing storage requirements by buying more space as it's needed.
There's a wide variety of applications available for use via ASPs. Office suite applications and email services are two of the most generic applications available through ASPs. Large, complex business applications such as enterprise resource planning tools like SAP are another popular candidate for delivery through an ASP. Other business services, such as payroll and accouting systems are also available. This is particularly beneficial to small businesses which are likely to grow quickly and don't want to deal with the problems caused by outgrowing their existing system and having to move to a high-end package. ASPs also offer a means of using specialist tools that would otherwise prove prohibitiveiy expensive. Small businesses have the opportunity to use such tools for short periods of time as and when they need them, rather than having to buy the software as a permanent investment.
One of the major barriers for small businesses which want to make a start in e-commerce is ensuring that they have sufficient resources to cope with sudden large increases in customers. This means not only having adequate storage for all your customers' details, but ensuring that you have the techology in place to handle stock leveis, effcient delivery and large volumes of traffic. It's very rare for an e-commerce business to handle all of these elements by itself, making this one of the best-established areas of ASP use. Being able to respond rapidly to changes in the size of your customer base and the type of product that they want to order from your business, demands more flexibility than traditional software can provide.