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ASP Pulse: Trix Aren't Just For Kids
By Christina Torode Computer Reseller News

So enterprise accounts are giving the ASP model the thumbs-down?

Someone better tell that to General Mills Inc. The maker of such household names as Trix cereal, Hamburger Helper and Yoplait yogurt is relying on an ASP to steer clients to local supermarkets.

A consumer affairs application developed and hosted by Wilke/Thornton Inc., Dublin, OH, allows General Mills' customer service reps to type in a customer's zip code to locate the nearest store that is selling Cocoa Puffs or Fruit Roll-Ups, for example.

Wilke/Thornton works with Information Resources Inc. (IRI), a company that buys grocery-store purchasing data. The ASP set up a database with that information for General Mills' customer service reps to tap. Other clients include Clorox, McCormick Spices and Club Med.

"We could not, with a high degree of accuracy, tell our customers where to purchase our products in local markets before we started using this application," said Jodi Richardson, systems administrator at General Mills, Minneapolis.

Training is minimal, which is always a plus in the high-turnover world of help desks, and the customer service department has been able to knock one minute to two minutes off each customer call, said Richardson.

So why was a hosted service the right move for General Mills? In many ways, it ties back to a constrained IT budget. For one, purchasing consumer data on customers buying habits is expensive. Wilke/Thornton covers that aspect through its relationship with IRI, and spreads the cost across its customer base.

And, of course, the company did not have to pay for additional hardware or up-front licensing costs for the software. But the true value comes from accuracy, Richardson said.

"As long as we can give customers accurate data that leads to them buying our products, it's well worth the cost," said Richardson.

Wilke/Thornton belongs to Progress Software Corp.'s ASP, initiative which is helping 2,000 ISV partners extend 5,000 applications developed on its platform to an ASP model. The vendor's initiative, ASPEN (for ASP-enabling), is a bundle of technology, professional services and strategic partnerships.