Groupware today has been interpreted and misinterpreted differently by different people. Organizations spend lots of money on groupware implementations and end up not utilizing the applications that are available.

For many companies, the decision to use an ASP is an easy one. After all, ASPs can provide all the benefits of an enterprise software package without much of the burden of software ownership. Eliminated are the cost of building and maintaining proprietary software, supporting and upgrading hardware and other IT infrastructure, and other components of the total cost of software ownership.

You're responsible for managing the 40,000 user accounts and 53,500 computers for your company. It's 9 am on Monday. Do you know where your users' computers are? Do you have any idea what software and applications are running?

Despite the bursting of the technology bubble in 2000, the pace of technological innovation remains fast. However, many companies today are tempering their interest in new computing and communications technologies because of fear instilled by that implosion. Technology spending has been nothing short of anemic since 2000.

The issue of software quality is a bit like the weather -- everyone complains, but no one has been able to do anything about it. With that in mind, consider the following four scenarios.

Would you believe me if I told you it's possible to obtain software, costing a fraction of what you currently pay, that's fully capable of running your enterprise?