ASP Lets You Outsource Your Software Headaches
All a fleet needs is a PC and an Internet connection.
John Bendel
Technology Editor
Remember Application Service Providers (ASPs) during the Internet bubble? They were going to revolutionize the way we all worked.
It was just another business revolution that didn't quite happen. Software companies fell over themselves setting up shop on the web. But in many cases, the customers never showed up and many brave new ASPs vanished. Like so many things involving the Internet, the ASP idea got ahead of itself early in the game.
Those early providers may have been ahead of their time, but they weren't wrong about ASPs - only about the timing.
Over the past five years, surviving ASPs have attracted users and grown. New, perhaps less ambitious ASPs are appearing and gaining traction in the market.
The idea is that customers - fleets in our industry's case - don't need anything more than ordinary PCs and an Internet connection to access the software of their choice, everything from end-to-end enterprise systems to operations software to maintenance applications.
The software and often the customer's files reside on the vendor's computer. The customer connects to it over the Internet and works through a web browser.
For users of well-designed ASPs, it's as though the software and data were in the computer on his or her desk - or lap, wherever that might be.
ASP BENEFITS, DRAWBACKS
ASPs seldom require much in terms of set up. Up-front investment is small - typically something like a month's service in advance. That allows small and under-financed fleets access to software otherwise well beyond their reach.
ASP's normally charge only for the time or bandwidth actually used - something that likely reflects the amount of business a fleet is doing and thus a percentage of actual revenue.
Customers only have to maintain their own computer. They don't have to worry about installing or updating functional software. They don't need IT specialists on staff, under contract or on call.
ASPs are particularly suitable for companies with multiple locations. Depending on the software, people at different locations can all work from the same system and database.
It isn't all coming up roses - ASPs do have a downside.
Software on a remote computer cannot match the speed and performance of software installed on your own machine. It is subject to Internet delays and to the limitations of your connection. Conceivably, you can sign up for an ASP with nothing more than a dialup account - AOL for example. But busy trucking people will likely be frustrated with the slow pace. To use an ASP efficiently, you should have some kind of high-speed connection.
Perhaps the biggest ASP drawback is as much psychological as it is real. You will be dependent on that remote server, the Internet and your connection to it. Your application, and most likely your business data, will be off premises. That's something you have to get used to. But the truth is, if you choose your ASP vendor carefully, your applications and data may be safer than they would be on a computer or server you owned and operated.
Here are a few representative ASPs serving the trucking industry in different capacities:
• Innovative Computer Corp., with offices in Oklahoma City and Brentwood, Tenn.
ICC, as the company is commonly known, offers IES Access and Access Plus applications, which the company describes as enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for truckload carriers.
A genuine old-timer in the truckload software business, one of ICC software's claims to fame is its exclusive devotion to the IBM AS/400 system. Of course, ASP customers don't need AS/400; that's what ICC uses to run the ASP software, which is aimed at fleets of 50 trucks or more.
• Integrated Decision Support Corp., Richardson, Texas.
IDSC, as the company is known, offers FuelAdvice fuel pricing and trip planning on the web at www.fueladvice.com, a service for truckload and long-haul fleets and individual drivers that takes advantage of price differences among fuel outlets, often truckstops.
FuelAdvice weighs a number of parameters that include the fuel capacity of a particular truck, fuel levels at the time of dispatch, rate of consumption and fuel prices at specific locations between stops. FuelAdvice generates a route, then weighs the various factors to come up with an optimum plan for fueling along the way. The resulting trip plan will offer highway-by-highway directions and specific fuel buying instructions, including the number of gallons to buy at each stop place.
• Xata Corp., Minneapolis, Minn.
Xata offers XATANET, a management and communications ASP for private fleets. XATANET requires Xata hardware in fleet trucks, but only PCs and Internet access at the dispatch end of things. XATANET provides asset tracking with real-time visibility of drivers, vehicles and deliveries. Xata manages applications and maintains customer databases. According to the company, XATANET provides low cost of entry.
• Cheetah Software Systems, Westlake Village, Calif.
Cheetah offers ASP versions of its operations software products, called Cheetah Delivery and Cheetah Freight (see sidebar).
• TripPak Services, Lakewood Colo.
TripPak offers TripPak Online, an adaptable document management ASP that takes physical possession of trucking paperwork, displaying documents over the Internet on demand. Documents can be scanned at a carrier's office, at truckstops or at TripPak's document management center in Wilmington, Ohio. That facility is fed by TripPak Express, which overnights documents from the company's network of truckstop drop boxes.
• Arsenault Associations Inc., Atco, N.J.
This maintenance software provider ASP, 24/7 Fleet Online, offers the features of Arsenault's flagship Dossier maintenance management software, including fleet inventory, complete maintenance histories, shop work tracking, preventive maintenance scheduling, warranty tracking and more.
• J. J. Keller & Associates, Neenah, Wis.
Keller provides Driver Management Online, an ASP that remotely manages driver hiring, driver qualification files, alcohol and drug testing, accident record keeping, compliance reporting and more.
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