Compaq M'sia to go the ASP route
Compaq director of sales and marketing in Asia Pacific Phillip Attard said that although the ASP market was consolidating, Compaq felt there was a lot of potential in Asia Pacific.
The computer giant has pulled in PWC as a consultant partner to offer pre-configured ASP packages.
"We are confident that businesses in this region will see our value proposition. We offer customers the traditional ERP value proposition delivered via the ASP 'pay-as-you-go' model which can be customised and implemented quickly over an organization's intranet," he said at a media briefing Wednesday.
The ASP business solutions offer tailor-made applications, infrastructure and consulting to maximise cost efficiencies covering ERP (enterprise resource planning), CRM (customer relationship management), SCM (supply chain management), HRM (human resource management) and e-business for medium and large organisations.
Gartner reported that out of 130 ASPs in the Asia Pacific market today, only 40 will be around by the end of 2002.
International Data Corp (IDC) said in its study that some ASPs companies like Red Gorillas dissappeared virtually overnight.
But according to Attard, consolidation can only mean good news to people who have been in the market long enough, such as Compaq and PWC.
"The tailored ASP business solutions will be offered to customers on the strength of Compaq's leading IT infrastructure and services capability, combined with PricewaterhouseCoopers's premier technology solutions and industry experience," he added.
Attard said the cost of ownership for businesses utilizing ASP is estimated to be lower by as much as 35 percent.
However, industry experts see the potential of the ASP model despite the ongoing consolidation. According to Gartner, the global ASP market is expected to hit US$25.3 billion (RM96.14) by 2004, compared with US$3.6 billion in 2000, while in Asia Pacific, it is expected to reach US$1.6 billion by 2004, up from US$200 million in 2000.
IDC expects the ASP market to grow 60 percent between 2000 and 2005.
"The common mistake among ASPs is to offer a set solution for everybody. We found that the one-size-fits-all scenario doesn't quite cut it. We offer our clients customized solutions," said PWC senior technology solutions partner (East Asia) Phil O'Prey.
Compaq and PWC target markets are the 100 to 1,000 employee organizations and small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). The specific industries are consumer product manufacturers and high technology companies.