- Are You Comfortable with the ASP's Approach to Major Data Center Issues Such as Backup, Disaster-Proofing, and Data and Physical Security?
- Can the ASP Provide the Type of Secure Broadband Network that Best Suits Your Requirements?
- Is the ASP's IT Infrastructure Scalable Enough to Accommodate Your Company's Growth or Variations in Activity?
- Do You Prefer that an Outside Party Remotely Monitor All the ASP's Facilities (Such as Data Centers) and Security Equipment (Such as Firewalls)?
- Do You Require that the Application You Lease Be Extensively Customized?
- Do You Need Accelerated Deployment of the Hosted Application?
- Which, If Any, of these Hosted Enabling Technologies Do You Need, and Why?
- What Extent of Technical Support and Customer Service Do You Require?
- Which ASP Pricing Model Best Meets Your Company's Activity Patterns—Does the ASP Offer that Model?
- Does the ASP's Standard Service Level Agreement (SLA) Meet Your Needs? If Not, Will the ASP Change It, and How Much Does It Charge to Change It?
8. What Extent of Technical Support and Customer Service Do You Require?
Many ASPs offer tiered customer service plans so you can purchase different levels according to your budget. In gauging the level of support you'll need, consider the following questions. How do you contact tech support with a system problem: phone, fax, e-mail, all three? What are the hours of customer support (for instance, 9am6pm)? How many agents are there during that period? What are their areas of expertise (for example, do you have access to a database administrator)? How fast does your SLA indicate that ASP staff must respond to trouble tickets? What are the escalation procedures for trouble tickets? How often does the ASP submit reports on system performance to you? Do the reports measure performance during typical production work periods? Do the reports measure all relevant performance trends?