An exploratory study into factors of service quality for application service providers

An examination of the services offered by application service providers (ASPs) indicates that their current service quality needs to be improved to satisfy current and future clients. This study attempted to fulfill this need by identifying the dimensions of service quality for the ASP industry through both qualitative and quantitative approaches. As a result, seven dimensions were identified (features, availability, reliability, assurance, empathy, conformance, and security). In addition, an initial checklist was developed to help ASPs assess and diagnose their service quality performance. Some insights and implications to the ASP practitioners were also discussed. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.