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1.5 HRM
25. About Our Business Model
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Business Model:
The ASP provides your bespoke application service in a similar way that your electricity service is provided.   In return for a modest monthly fee, your application service and your electricity service employ a similar business model.   Your costs may involve a fixed fee and a per-usage fee. For example; the ASP may charge 4% of the revenue flowing through your application services in a similar way to how credit card charges are applied.

Monthly Agreement:
The ASP understand that industry normal practice is to demand a 12 to 36 month fixed-term agreement.   While this is quite acceptable, the ASP do not insist as you have the right to take you business to a competitor where that competitor is able to provide a cheaper or better quality of service.
The ASP ensure that your data can be exported at any time and we will use our best endevours to help you to export your data.   We are motivated to provide you with the best possible service with continual improvements in return for your monthly fee.

On Demand:
The ASP provide your application service from Tier-IV data centers that house the UK Internet backbone, this infrastructure is continually evolving and is flexible enough to cope with any growth (or reduction) in your business.   The Capacity Manager continually monitors your data requirements and transaction rates to adjust the space and processing power needed to keep you application service working as expected.   Where your application is running with three web servers, a fourth web server can be plugged in without interuption to your service and the capacity of your application inceased to handle more transactions.

Proposed Method of Working:
Step 1: To actively listen to your set of problems, challenges and issues where your business feel that higher productivity and more effective methods of working could deliver real benefits.
Step 2: To [B]document your business requirements[/B] as the rationalization and consolidation of your problems, challenges and issues with potential benefits.
Step 3: To [B]build[/B] your working demonstrable application service that could resolve some of your problems, challenges and issues.
Step 4: To [B]demonstrate[/B] your bespoke application service working in a typical working environment.  To actively listen for improvements and clarification that could deliver your greater benefits.
Step 5: To [B]agree a modest monthly fee[/B] based on estimated data volumes and transactions.  To agree to periodic service review when actual data volumes and transation trends are available.
Step 6: To [B]plan and implement active use[/B] of your bespoke application service with bulk data import and training as needed.  To actively listen for improvements and clarification that could deliver your greater benefits.

Continual Improvements:
The ASP can provide continual improvements without additional costs because your original business requirements are specified using Information Engineering methods that uniquely identify every component.   Your application service is designed to be very flexible so it can continually evolve and stay current with your business requirements.   Only by providing very high quality application services can continual improvements be cost justified - something our competitors may not understand.

Distrust and Caution are the parents of Security.

Summary:
1. Your bespoke application service is fully demonstrable in your working environment as your proof of concept.
2. You get a months application service including continual improvements and you pay a months fee - simple.

Summary:
No capital investment.
No development costs.
No maintenance costs.
No training costs.
No computer server costs.
No minimum agreement period.
No termination costs.
No liabilities.
No business or technical risk.

Additional Liabilities:
The terms of use for your bespoke application service is covered by ASP professional indemnity insurance.
Where you require addtional agreement clauses, a new professional indemnity insurance may be required and the costs of that annual insurance would need to be paid in advance.

Marketing Strategy:
The ASP has a "one customer" marketing strategy - all decisions are made as if only one customer existed or will ever exist.   Customer service is provided with the customer at the center because only one customer exists and whatever that one customer needed are sufficient reason to lead in that direction.

Campaigns:
In many cases, general email marketing campaigns are illegal and Gartner is now reporting that such strategies are not sustainable.   Telephone campaigns have a decreasing level of effectiveness.   Social networking can be many times more effective than a telephone campaign, but only in the long term.

Empowerment:
Operational management are empowered to subscribe to the most effective and productive application services that they can acquire.   IT may no longer be the evaluation and selection team for operational services that do not impinge on any part of the IT infrastructure.   Application services are marketed to Executive and Operational management where IT management may have a watching brief - software does not need to be installed.

Good customer service is much better than blue sky marketing.

Cloud Flavors:
1. Private closed access Cloud Application Service (Gartner: 66% by 2014.
2. NOT a virtual open shared access Cloud Service (cheaper than private closed).
3. NOT a community limited access Cloud Service (bit better than public).
4. NOT a public open shared access Cloud Service (low security, unpredictable, cheap).

Traditional Marketing:
Traditional marketing strategies are not sustainable in a modern on-line on-demand world where customer loyalty does not exist and price comparison is a way of life.   Marketing to a wide range of typical customers has such a low hit rate that it could be said to be worthless.
The ASP does not do general marketing and traditional advertising - social networking is the only marketing strategy employed.   Social networking has many constraints becuase it would not be wise to provide one customer with a distinct competitive advantage and productivity benefit and then market a similar application service to a direct competitor.   In general, management consultancy rules apply, no one customer is aware of other customers and no application service provided to one customer is offered to a competitor.

Per Customer Strategy:
Gartner are advocating a "Per Customer" marketing policy that is similar to how the ASP has operated for the last decade.   Only one customer exists and marketing by way of continual improvements are focused on the customer.
Prospects are potential customers who are treated in the same unique way - total focus on their unique requirements as a marketing campaign where the result will be a win or a delay to a later date.   New development can be treated in a similar way to continual improvements - they are highly focused on the unique requirements of one unique customer without any general marketing costs.

Customer Focus:
Marketing is not sustainable. Advertising is not sustainable.
It is ten-times easier to sell an improvement to an existing customer than to sell a new service to a new customer.
Providing a long list of other customer names is meaningless and where a competitors name is included, it can be devisive.   It is ten-times better to provide a sustainable bespoke service to one good customer than to sell a quick software package to ten customers that you will never see again.

Customer Loyalty:
1. Each customer is loyal where the price is less than all compeitors and the quality of service is better than all competitors.   If the price becomes higher than any competitor, the ASP do not deserve to be in that business and it is time to learn from competitors.   If the quality of service becomes less than any competitor, the ASP do not deserve to be in that business and it is time to learn from competitors.
2. Loyalty must be continually earned and we do not expect loyalty as a right.   No amount of marketing and advertising can retain a customer where the price is wrong or the quality of service is not apropriate.

Document Control:
1. Document Title: About Our Business Model.
2. Reference: 161525.
3. Keywords: About Our Business Model.
4. Description: About Our Business Model.
5. Privacy: Public education service as a benefit to humanity.
6. Issued: 24 Oct 2017.
7. Edition: 1.4.