Meta Group maintains that the ASP industry is not a unique market segment, but rather a derivative of the commoditisation of application outsourcing services.
Meta says during 2002 IT vendors will increasingly integrate service levels with business objectives and use benchmarking to “market align” prices. Tactical contract management will continue, but strategic approaches will demand transaction (eg financial, service, technical) management and regulation.
It believes pure-play ASPs will transition into full service vendors targeting SMEs, forcing greater investment in application integration. By 2004/2005 the term ASP will disappear as vendors focus on infrastructure services, integrated application or industry/business process outsourcing solutions.