7 Strategies to Beat the Costs of Custom Software and Licensing
Custom Solutions Can Get ComplicatedMany resellers offer custom software solutions alongside their standard solutions, but, those in the game know custom software implementations can drain company resources and drag on past deadlines, resulting in unhappy customers. Resellers may want to opt for close OEM software relationships with ISVs or establish a managed services offering to keep margins up.
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Increasingly Cloudy and Costly WorldWith hot software trends such as virtualization, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and cloud computing gaining followers daily, custom licensing has never been trickier. And with times being what they are, a lot of extra resources on customization could be better spent elsewhere in your business and your customer’s.
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Some Exceptions RequiredObviously, says IDC, big, “strategic” accounts will get what they want. And if customization creates leading edge innovation, well, no software business will say no to that.
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Uniformity = SavingsBut your customer’s customizations most likely fall into consistent patterns, says IDC. Hence, standardized policies, and clear customer communications targeted at explaining what you’re willing to do for the customer and why, can actually create competitive differentiation.
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Many OpportunitiesThe key, as in any resource savings, is to think about the parts of your process where ad hoc responses rule, and try to reign in that variation. That can be, as IDC notes, in areas as diverse as subscription policy, adaptation to customer’s virtual machines, disaster recovery rights, OEM agreements and more.
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Clear Policy as Effective NegotiationBusiness is about negotiation. Negotiation is about being forthright about your own interests. Policies that clearly spell out your interests, and how they can work to the benefit of the customer, says IDC, can go a long way toward controlling customizations.
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Solving Challenges Where You CanA fast-paced, global (and tough) economy has enough challenges to drain resources. Removing software licensing variations as much as possible offers just one more opportunity for survival, and maybe even growth.