ASP stands for Application Service Provider, a company that houses your applications (e.g. Membership System) and lets you run them remotely using the internet. In some people's minds, this is the way forward and eventually all of us will simply get onto the internet to run our favourite computer software. There is no need to install lots of software on your computers, because the ASP company has it installed. ASPs handle upgrades at their end and you avoid the interruption, thus allowing you to spend your time on your business and not your IT system