Event
Summary
On May 16, 2000, ASPORA announced it had launched a new ASP solution aimed
at helping law firms and corporate law departments work more efficiently
and productively. According to the press release, ASPORA, debuting in
the United States, provides the legal market with integrated high-end
applications and services via a common Web browser.
Traditionally,
application services providers (ASPs) deliver a variety of services over
an Internet platform. According to their press release, ASPORA will take
this concept farther and be focused on providing the legal market with
both high-end products and services - integrated seamlessly.
Instead
of integrating a variety of software applications and systems themselves,
ASPORA will provide law firms and corporate legal departments the convenience
of a state-of-the-art service concept and software package all in one.
In addition, ASPORA will help a company's IT department be more responsive
to changing needs and better focus on core issues.
ASPORA launched in the United States on May 16, 2000, will serve law firms
and corporate counsel nationwide.
Market
Impact
"We're filling a real need with this new ASP solution," says Scott Twibell,
Chief Technology Officer of ASPORA. "It allows us to offer high-end software
and services to middle market firms and corporate counsel who might not
have choices and options previously available to only the largest firms,
be able to try out services and products before buying them, have the
ability to seamlessly integrate software, and benefit from lower cost
of ownership."
This
is a sound concept and one that many ASP's have built their business models
around. It has only been a matter of time until the legal "vertical" market
was addressed. Other verticals such as healthcare, insurance and petroleum
manufacturers have seen the emergence of application service providers
in the last 8 - 12 months. With market size estimates ranging from 20
- 44 billion it's no wonder why these companies are producing attractive
solutions.
User
Recommendations
Perhaps we're quick on the trigger, or vice-versa. ASPORA's press release
suggests readers interested in learning more visit their website. We visited
the site and at the time of writing, ASPORA's web presence was/is extremely
limited. It lacks fundamental information such as company location, background,
strategic partnership details, hosting information, and licensing data.
It is rich (if not overly done) with "flash-like" graphics that lead to
orphaned pages. Overall, the "debut" is slim. Could it be the marketing
department got a little ahead of itself? Given time, perhaps ASPORA will
catch up with its announcement, or simply fall victim to its own rhetoric.