Adding To The Confusion: A Tale of Two Acronyms

The service-provider industry is quickly becoming a dyslexic's nightmare with acronyms like AIP, ASP, FSP, ISP, MSP, NSP and VSP swirling about within the hosted-applications marketplace. Now we even have a term with a variable definition,the xSP.

When businesses start using algebraic terms to define themselves, we know the industry is confused. The new acronyms illustrate both the ASPs' desire to avoid the backlash of a negative business press and the need to differentiate themselves. But instead of distinguishing themselves, they're confusing customers.

IDC recently released a report defining xSP as representing a "broad range of service providers, offering many different types of services from Internet access, applications functionality and support for business processes." According to IDC, xSPs differ from traditional service providers by delivering service over a network and by managing it externally. In addition, xSP business models are based on a one-to-many approach and priced on a recurring service-fee basis. So, basically, we're back to the ASP term again.

IDC is not done complicating our lives, though. Some terminology that sprouted as a result of IDC's operant definition of xSP are systems infrastructure providers (SIPs), sounding an awful lot like application infrastructure providers (AIPs), and process support providers (PSPs),MSPs with a bow on them. Here's an idea: Stop inventing marketing clutter and try simplifying the business for your customers.

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