Much has been written by vendors, journalists and industry analysts about the plethora of available financial systems (or ERP packages), both the positives and pitfalls.
But when it’s time to get your hands dirty with the review and decision-making process, this first Briefing of our Series can help. Find out how ECM and distributed, web-based document capture play an important role in your ERP decision process.
Click here to get access to the full briefing!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
What in the world is SPLA and why should I care???
Ask Dr. SPLA
Dear Dr. SPLA What is SPLA?
Well, if you are a Microsoft partner, you should care because you need to be aware of alternative licensing programs Microsoft is offering - affectionately called, Microsoft Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA). If you are a prospective customer looking to save on CAP-EX expenditures (who isn't these days), then you need to be an informed consumer and be made aware of a relatively unknown alternative to purchasing Microsoft software.
SPLA is a licensing program that enables service providers and ISVs with a hosted offering to license Microsoft products on a monthly basis to provide services and hosted applications to their end customers. As a SPLA partner, here's your benefits:
For full details on SPLA licensing and to determine whether SPLA is right for you, contact your local Microsoft Partner or visit http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/licensing/default.mspx
Dear Dr. SPLA What is SPLA?
Well, if you are a Microsoft partner, you should care because you need to be aware of alternative licensing programs Microsoft is offering - affectionately called, Microsoft Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA). If you are a prospective customer looking to save on CAP-EX expenditures (who isn't these days), then you need to be an informed consumer and be made aware of a relatively unknown alternative to purchasing Microsoft software.
SPLA is a licensing program that enables service providers and ISVs with a hosted offering to license Microsoft products on a monthly basis to provide services and hosted applications to their end customers. As a SPLA partner, here's your benefits:
- No upfront costs.
- Most current product versions.
- You have access to the most current versions of the products available in the program.
- Pay based on usage Monthly usage-based cost means you pay only for what was made available the previous month.
- Worldwide distribution Use Microsoft licensed products to sell your services in any part of the world.
- Customer evaluations: Use licensed products to provide software services to your prospective customers on a trial basis for up to 60 days.
- Customer demonstrations: You can have up to 50 active user IDs for demonstration purposes
For full details on SPLA licensing and to determine whether SPLA is right for you, contact your local Microsoft Partner or visit http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/licensing/default.mspx
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Dollars and Sense: Distributed, Web-Based Document Capture to the Rescue
Dollars and Sense:
Distributed, Web-Based Document Capture to the Rescue
Shhh! The Secret Costs of Centralized Capture
Here is a secret nobody wants to talk about, but we’ll break the silence. The major Document Capture vendors (and ECM vendors who might offer a bundled Capture product) purposefully did not want the market to shift towards Distributed Capture because its blows their license revenue pricing models right out the door. Yep, we said it. (This one will certainly generate the hate mail). Here’s the proof:
Per Click Counts, Seat Licenses, & Server Licenses - Oh My!
The fact is that legacy vendors really like (actually, cherish is a more suitable word) getting the per-click charges for each page scanned through those monstrous IBML and Kodak scanners, vs. a compact, $400.00 workgroup scanner. Think about it...
How about this one for kicks? The vendors haven’t quite figured out how to account for web browser-based users (if there is no software to install, they can’t count the per seat user). What's their solution?
Did you know that the bigger the scanner you attach to a software application, the more money it is going to cost you? That’s right. It’s kind of similar to the recently proposed Carbon Emissions Tax....
Let’s talk about the server licenses. If you haven’t priced them, watch out, and be prepared for sticker shock! Remember, from the vendor perspective, they want you to pump as much volume through their server as possible, so they can drive that monthly or annual license volume through the roof …
And yet more costs: Here are some other soothing thoughts to consider that surely will increase your costs: Test/Development licenses, ICR/OCR, Advanced Forms, Export modules, Remote Scanning...
Analyze that software maintenance agreement language carefully. It is not widely known that some vendors have introduced a concept of automatic “CPI” increases that usually range...
More on this subject in my upcoming book, "The Case for Distributed, Web-based Document Capture"
Distributed, Web-Based Document Capture to the Rescue
Shhh! The Secret Costs of Centralized Capture
Here is a secret nobody wants to talk about, but we’ll break the silence. The major Document Capture vendors (and ECM vendors who might offer a bundled Capture product) purposefully did not want the market to shift towards Distributed Capture because its blows their license revenue pricing models right out the door. Yep, we said it. (This one will certainly generate the hate mail). Here’s the proof:
Per Click Counts, Seat Licenses, & Server Licenses - Oh My!
The fact is that legacy vendors really like (actually, cherish is a more suitable word) getting the per-click charges for each page scanned through those monstrous IBML and Kodak scanners, vs. a compact, $400.00 workgroup scanner. Think about it...
How about this one for kicks? The vendors haven’t quite figured out how to account for web browser-based users (if there is no software to install, they can’t count the per seat user). What's their solution?
Did you know that the bigger the scanner you attach to a software application, the more money it is going to cost you? That’s right. It’s kind of similar to the recently proposed Carbon Emissions Tax....
Let’s talk about the server licenses. If you haven’t priced them, watch out, and be prepared for sticker shock! Remember, from the vendor perspective, they want you to pump as much volume through their server as possible, so they can drive that monthly or annual license volume through the roof …
And yet more costs: Here are some other soothing thoughts to consider that surely will increase your costs: Test/Development licenses, ICR/OCR, Advanced Forms, Export modules, Remote Scanning...
Analyze that software maintenance agreement language carefully. It is not widely known that some vendors have introduced a concept of automatic “CPI” increases that usually range...
More on this subject in my upcoming book, "The Case for Distributed, Web-based Document Capture"
On-Premise or SaaS: The Great Debate
On-Premise or SaaS: The Great Debate
Install your software on-site (on-premise) or contract with a software as a service (SaaS) provider? That is the great debate within the confines of your own organization, and certainly among us in the IT industry. No doubt On-Premise is here to stay for the foreseeable future, but what about this SaaS thing? Is it applicable to the ECM application stack, and more specifically, what about a Document Capture process?
Stepping back for a moment and speaking in the context of IT, there is a fundamental shift going on in how software, hardware and IT professional services are acquired, used and paid for today, and will likely affect the future of computing by you the customer.
In the past, either you outright bought the technology or leased it.
Now, with SaaS as a viable emerging option, you pay as you go.*
*No doubt you have heard of Salesforce.com. It has nailed SaaS as a viable delivery option for Customer Relationship Management software (CRM). Microsoft CRM is another vendor to watch in the CRM SaaS arena.
SaaS as a viable option, and the numerous emerging SaaS business solution offerings, are taking the concept far beyond first-generation application functionality and deployment. SaaS alternatives are now in a prime position to service mission-critical business applications and operations for small, mid-size and large firms. (Microsoft and its partners, for example, offer Exchange, CRM, SharePoint services over the web – and the application offerings won’t stop there.) And contrary to conventional wisdom, ...
Think about it for just a moment – is anybody in your organization eager to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on any IT solutions in today’s economic climate? Or, alternatively,...
As a result of these ongoing changes in the way software and solutions are delivered, there will be a fundamental change in the way customers desire to use the next generation of computing technologies – including ECM.
You, the customers of SaaS-based applications, have the opportunity to gain enormous competitive advantages to mission-critical applications for far fewer dollars than ever before. And, from a time to market perspective, there flat out is just no comparison between bringing up a SaaS based application versus the traditional, belabored, deadline-fraught, time-consuming, and never-ending CAP-EX budgeting and appropriation process of a full software installation.
Aren’t you tired of beating your head up against the wall trying to get that six-figure budget approved for your ECM solution? The time to market difference is substantial ...
The Promises of SaaS
Let’s review a short list of fundamentals:
That’s a great question. The answer is ...
The reason is rather obvious. Their software is ...
As previously mentioned, ECM industry members for the most have been ...
FileBound from MarexGroup and SpringCM by far have taken the lead in the industry by our account. Our hats are off to both firms for being the innovators and sticking it out. Hyland On-Base is working hard in this area, too. While these companies are largely ....
Here is a rather quick and simple test of SaaS go-to-market readiness you can perform with the Capture vendors yourself: When you are engaged with a Capture software sales rep...
The point here is that many Capture software vendors are ....
A Final Pearl of Wisdom on the Subject of SaaS
Even if you are not fully convinced at this point in time that you should embrace a SaaS-based ECM solution (Capture, Workflow, Repository, Storage, etc.) for whatever business or technical reasons, at least contemplate the following thought: You do ...
Why is Capture viable in SaaS form? ...
If you are looking to save budget money, ...
Remember, if you are working with the right ECM vendor you should have the flexibility to choose...
Above copy is from my upcoming book, "The Case for Distributed, Web-based Document Capture."
Install your software on-site (on-premise) or contract with a software as a service (SaaS) provider? That is the great debate within the confines of your own organization, and certainly among us in the IT industry. No doubt On-Premise is here to stay for the foreseeable future, but what about this SaaS thing? Is it applicable to the ECM application stack, and more specifically, what about a Document Capture process?
Stepping back for a moment and speaking in the context of IT, there is a fundamental shift going on in how software, hardware and IT professional services are acquired, used and paid for today, and will likely affect the future of computing by you the customer.
In the past, either you outright bought the technology or leased it.
Now, with SaaS as a viable emerging option, you pay as you go.*
*No doubt you have heard of Salesforce.com. It has nailed SaaS as a viable delivery option for Customer Relationship Management software (CRM). Microsoft CRM is another vendor to watch in the CRM SaaS arena.
SaaS as a viable option, and the numerous emerging SaaS business solution offerings, are taking the concept far beyond first-generation application functionality and deployment. SaaS alternatives are now in a prime position to service mission-critical business applications and operations for small, mid-size and large firms. (Microsoft and its partners, for example, offer Exchange, CRM, SharePoint services over the web – and the application offerings won’t stop there.) And contrary to conventional wisdom, ...
Think about it for just a moment – is anybody in your organization eager to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on any IT solutions in today’s economic climate? Or, alternatively,...
As a result of these ongoing changes in the way software and solutions are delivered, there will be a fundamental change in the way customers desire to use the next generation of computing technologies – including ECM.
You, the customers of SaaS-based applications, have the opportunity to gain enormous competitive advantages to mission-critical applications for far fewer dollars than ever before. And, from a time to market perspective, there flat out is just no comparison between bringing up a SaaS based application versus the traditional, belabored, deadline-fraught, time-consuming, and never-ending CAP-EX budgeting and appropriation process of a full software installation.
Aren’t you tired of beating your head up against the wall trying to get that six-figure budget approved for your ECM solution? The time to market difference is substantial ...
The Promises of SaaS
Let’s review a short list of fundamentals:
- Minimal downtime, 24 x 7 access, no more upgrades, service patches and hot fixes to install;
- Time to market – measured in days or weeks, not months or quarters;
- No CAPEX, minimal upfront costs;
- many more revealed in my upcoming book....
Think about that value proposition for a moment…can your firm afford to build out an ECM or Capture solution with that kind of “SaaS” value proposition behind it?
SaaS: A Rather Compelling Value Proposition
Let’s revisit some of the other harsh realities of an on-premise solution model: you are still left with having to put in place the necessary infrastructure to operate the ECM application – people, processes, support systems, and of course, vendor software and equipment....
In a SaaS model, you typically are not required to procure any hardware or software, you sign a multi-year agreement, pay a nominal setup charge...
So this SaaS alternative is all sounding pretty good, but can it be done within the ECM industry?That’s a great question. The answer is ...
The reason is rather obvious. Their software is ...
As previously mentioned, ECM industry members for the most have been ...
FileBound from MarexGroup and SpringCM by far have taken the lead in the industry by our account. Our hats are off to both firms for being the innovators and sticking it out. Hyland On-Base is working hard in this area, too. While these companies are largely ....
Here is a rather quick and simple test of SaaS go-to-market readiness you can perform with the Capture vendors yourself: When you are engaged with a Capture software sales rep...
The point here is that many Capture software vendors are ....
A Final Pearl of Wisdom on the Subject of SaaS
Even if you are not fully convinced at this point in time that you should embrace a SaaS-based ECM solution (Capture, Workflow, Repository, Storage, etc.) for whatever business or technical reasons, at least contemplate the following thought: You do ...
Why is Capture viable in SaaS form? ...
If you are looking to save budget money, ...
Remember, if you are working with the right ECM vendor you should have the flexibility to choose...
Above copy is from my upcoming book, "The Case for Distributed, Web-based Document Capture."
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