Packaged Solutions
and E-Commerce
Service Providers
If a small company is reluctant
to take on the challenge
and complexity of developing
an Internet commerce
site in-house, an alternative
can be a packaged solution
or an e-commerce service
provider. This is true even for
medium- to large-sized firms.
Many vendors, including
Microsoft and Intershop,
offer turnkey systems for
companies that want to get
an e-business up and running
quickly, as shown in
Figure 10-21.
For large-scale systems
that must integrate with
existing applications,
packaged solutions might
be less attractive. Another
alternative is to use an
application service provider
(ASP). As explained
in Chapter 7, an ASP provides
applications, or
access to applications, by
charging a usage or subscription
fee. Today, many ASPs offer full-scale Internet business services for companies
that decide to outsource those functions.