Introduction
 
The SOAVE project aims at adopting and validating an innovative best practice approach for the second generation of application service provision business models. With the term "second generation", we indicate a new generation of ASP, that offers value added services. The project will allow for the provision of CRM related standard software applications experimenting a newly developed business model, that aims at leveraging interaction in vertical business relations.
  
In SOAVE, the user is a telecommunication service provider with a vast network of distributors, that has the strategic objective to improve its vertical business relations for more business excellence and enhanced competitiveness. The user therefore plan to introduce an ASP-based environment, that will on the one hand provide benefits to all nodes in the business network, thus enhancing their motivation to participate actively and that on the other hand will provide for a common IT tool to support the realisation of the planned business objectives.
These objectives are mainly:
Relation of strategy, business plan and operative tasks
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Greater efficiency in the delivery of services and in the communication stream,
Higher quality in the business relation itself as well as in the service to the customer and
Greater cost efficiency in the overall business process.
These objectives are highlighted in the figure in more detail.
 
Why did the consortium decide to realise these objectives via a second generation ASP business model?
  
Recent experience with "classic" ASP approaches showed, that the vision of economic standardised software to be delivered to a big number of businesses without any kind of focus does not take up the expected rapid adoption curve.
  
There is now a clear move towards an evolution of this ASP model aiming at a more sustainable vision of ASP, that provides a specific value proposition and market focus to potential customers. This may for example be the packaged provision of specific applications to fitting target groups (in contrast to selling an office automation application to everyone) or the creation of a specific market or sectoral business focus. 
In the meantime the ASP approach permits a quick adoption of technology at low entry costs for the participants, in contrast to highly customised individual solutions (e.g. integrated dynamic websites with own CRM environment).
 
Evolution of Second Generation ASPs
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The SOAVE consortium therefore wants to undertake a best practice experiment embedded in its real business case that has the following essential aspects:
creation of an efficient CRM service environment for the vertical business relation of SME dimensioned enterprises in the telecommunication industry 
set-up of a secure and performing ASP scenario involving an ASP provider 
validation and refinement of the CRM service environment as well as of the ASP scenario
packaging of the experiences made for further replication of the approach.
As all participants are European SMEs, the focus lies on creating a solution that may be replicated with ease throughout the whole of Europe’s small and medium sized enterprises.