ASP News -- Virtual ASPs Get Real -
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Published on: 3/21/2002
Last Visited: 3/26/2002
"A key selection criterion for choosing an ASP is that it understands the industry it is selling software services into, so it makes absolute sense for an accountancy firm to be an accounting ASP," Bill Copeland, ACCPAC vice president of marketing, told ASPnews.
Reasons to Be a VASPAccountancy firms also have three strong reasons for wanting to becoming VASPs, Copeland said."Firstly, it helps them retain clients as it enhances their trusted advisor role.Secondly, the ability to offer accountancy software gives them a competitive advantage, which should help them win more customers.And finally it can help them increase their revenues by having this, and other services they can bolt on to the software, to sell."
For example, by offering their "own" software on an ASP basis to customers, accountancy firms will have the opportunity to monitor their clients' financial health and to access secure, real-time views of their clients' financial accounts and data - if customers allow it, Copeland said.This will enable program members to offer new services to their customers, which would not be possible if these customers hosted and ran their own accounting systems.
The PASS program is aimed at accountancy firms whose customers have annual revenues of between $5 million and $200 million.Many of these customers are using legacy accountancy systems that are nearing the end of their life cycles, and will be looking to upgrade to more capable financial systems without incurring substantial new IT costs, Copeland said.
How It WorksThe ACCPAC system is made up of 12 modules, and its VASPs will be offered these services at a 20 percent discount off the published price list.They can therefore resell the services to customers with a 20 percent margin or create their own packages and pricing structures.
The entire service is delivered using the iCan Provider Suite supplied by iCan Inc., another CA subsidiary.The iCan platform includes a billing system that will provide billing to the VASPs to pass on to their own customers, and a self-provisioning capability to enable VASPs or their customers to switch modules or users on or off themselves.The system works on a one-to-many basis, using one set of applications and separate domains and databases for each accountancy customer.