ICN Shines Light on Software Maintenance Cost

News provided by

INTERNATIONAL COMPUTER NEGOTIATIONS, INC

Dec 10, 2013, 09:15 ET


Winter Park, Florida (PRWEB) December 10, 2013 -- When staring at the invoice on a desk it occurs to the reader that something is not right. A single line item states: Standard Software Maintenance….. $250,000. While marveling at the vendor’s brevity it is painfully realized that there is nothing standard about this invoice at all. In fact, it raises a whole series of questions:

• With some vendors reporting margins as high as 85% and annual price increases of 2-5% beginning to wonder how many times over the license will be paid for is commonplace?

• The support desk indicates that only a handful of calls have been made to the vendor’s support center. The product is stable, the platform is stable and the application is not changing. Is 24/7 support really necessary, can a per call basis work, should a 3rd party be considered?

• While updates and new versions were plentiful in the early days of ownership, they are much rarer now that the product is more mature and stable. In an economically rational marketplace shouldn’t a product with these characteristics have a declining cost curve?

And perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this all too common tale is that these invoices seem to have fallen into an auto-renew cycle with little push back or complaint. Now the quetion is: is the customer too locked in to even put up a fight? Is the customer too beaten down to ask for reasonable terms? Is the product too entrenched for the customer to have any options?

These are just some of the questions facing CIOs when it comes time to legacy software maintenance which until now have been described as a cycle of despair. Fortunately, ICN has some answers. The new Legacy Software Maintenance Workshop is a 2-day class that deals with all of these questions and others head on. According to ICN founder Joe Auer, “This class is a direct response to our customer’s plea for help in this very specific area of technology procurement.” Like other ICN workshops, this class will provide a treasure trove of tools, checklists, sample RFPs and terms, negotiation tips and success stories. Taught by industry veterans who have fought the legacy software maintenance battles first-hand the Legacy Software Maintenance Workshop brings ICN’s trademark “truth from the trenches” rigor to the classroom.

Visit our website at http://www.dobetterdeals.com or call 407-740-0770 to attend the next public class or to get information on bringing the class on-site to your company.

Russell Auer, INTERNATIONAL COMPUTER NEGOTIATIONS, INC, http://www.dobetterdeals.com, +1 (407) 629-6323, [email protected]