Book review: strategies for service providers.

• Author: Carlisle, Diane
• Position: Book Review

TITLE: Service Provider Strategy: Proven Secrets of XSPs

AUTHOR: Anne M. Burris

ISBN: 0-130-42008-5

PUBLISHER: Prentice Hall PTR

PUBLICATION DATE: 2002

LENGTH: 334 pages

PRICE: $44.99

SOURCES: Amazon.com (www.amazon.com)

Service providers come in all shapes and sizes. A service provider may run your mailroom, or microfilm your records, or store your boxes. A service provider in today's Internet-based environment might be an application service provider (ASP), a content service provider (CSP), or an Internet service provider (ISP). According to Anne Burris, who is worldwide xSP strategy manager for Hewlett-Packard, the term "xSP" is broad enough to cover them all: "An xSP is a service provider, coming from any industry, no matter the specialty, that offers goods or services over the Internet for a fee."

What is interesting about Service Provider Strategy is that although it begins by describing ISPs, it quickly points out that the key factors for xSP success are the same as those for traditional service bureaus. Primary to success is finding a company with skills that are critical to an organization's business strategy that the organization does not have available already. The main difference between xSPs and traditional service bureaus is the technology used to provide the service, but the principles discussed in this book are relevant to both.

Service Provider Strategy provides a high-level overview of key business considerations and is written primarily for individuals seeking to enter the service provider industry. It identifies seven operational challenges for the prospective service provider: partnerships/ alliances, organizational structures, entering the market, service delivery, customer care, billing, and infrastructure/availability. It makes liberal use of case studies and includes checklists of questions to consider. The case studies do tend to focus on Internet-enabled service providers. However, it is easy enough to make a comparison to more traditional service providers.

RIM professionals may find two chapters particularly interesting. The first is on partnering and alliances. A checklist provides a good starting point for assessing potential partners and deciding what should be included in the service level agreement. It stresses the point that the relationship must be managed--it is not enough to put a contract into place and assume everything will work smoothly. Both partners must share goals, have the same understanding of...