N° and issue date : 90901 - 01/09/2009
Circulation : 139122 Page : 14
Frequency : Weekly Size : 85 %
ComputerWeekly_90901_14_305.pdf 1149 cm2
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BUSINESS &
TECHNOLOGY
Cutyourlicensingcosts
Thedownturn has prompted organisations to
revisittheir software licences to
cutcosts writesArif Mohamed
,
KEY POINTS software them rollover saidRichard James platforms canbesupported more
,
,
contracts key head category for ICT economically under timeand
Softwaremaintenance and
at
of
is a
arrangements said James.
"
"
forreducing specialist buyingTeam. materials
support neednotnecessarily
IT
procurement ,
strategy
Butbefore costs Software maintenanceand support
carry fixed cost Renegotiating road
.
a
embarking on that ,
areoften seenas fixedcost butthere Opening negotiations
a
are several ways which When comes renegotiating
expertsadvise organisations
to
Suppliers morelikely
it
in
to
these costs canbe licences and contracts
carry out thorough software audit.
to
"
reduce service costs scope
,
a
Robert Stanley head Microsoft suppliers may expect quid
of
if
managed renegotiated
a
contract reduced
or
,
of
,
services firm simplycut hesaid. ottair pro quo particularly
is
solutions By
,
the aim
,
reduce
IT
at
Data said We' ve found
"
Headcount
Recession generating new Commit ment the
" is to
if
Dimension
service charges said
,
audits behighly effective reductions can mean
,
"
models software licensing
,
software
supplier maywell
in
to
redundant licences
several legal experts.
showing exactly how manyusers
of
such aspay-per-usage
.
Unless the customer
,
supportfor them rates
" "
computersand systems areused Terminate drop ,
th e
consider hibernation. fortunate the chances
per license and identifying
is
,
will
or
are thatthesupplier
under-use. Encourage use internal
"
overand
of
helpdesks as thefirst port of
want something return for in
Contract review call . It' s
good for suppliers , reducing the price That .
Aswell as thorough audit reducing their costs sothey canpass
on probably
means relaxation service
a
of
reduction scope and
IT
a
,
departmentsshouldreview all their
the benefits. levels ,
a
in
,
contract models ratherthanletting ,
"
Alsoconsider legacy stable if
, potentially renegotiation some the
a
of
of
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No reproduction without authorisation
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N° and issue date : 90901 - 01/09/2009
Circulation : 139122 Page : 15
Frequency : Weekly Size : 85 %
ComputerWeekly_90901_14_305.pdf 1149 cm2
Web Site: http://www.computerweekly.com/Home/
BUSINESS &
TECHNOLOGY
other contractual clauses suchas
said Duncan
"
liability provisions ,
Pithousepartner with the and ,
a
IP
technology group lawfirmDLA Piper. at
Headded that renegotiation could
lead short-term financial gain but to
,
also lack keyservices. a of
Another legalexpert Mark Henley , ,
partner Wragge Co saidthat
a at &
,
before opening renegotiation with a
a
supplier customers need look ,
to
carefully the terms their existing at
of
contract and the alternatives at
fromthe supplier' competitors.
available s
movingaway fromthe supplier
"
If
willbeprohibitively expensive not or
technically feasible thenthere ,
is
every possibility that they will
stonewall
anyattempt improve on the to
original deal hewarned.
"
,
David Chan City University ,
London' director forthe Centre for s
Information Leadership
encouraged ,
businesses use their commercial to
leverage negotiate Perhaps you
"
to
.
areintending extend service to
a
contract
year' time By offering in a s
.
a
longer commitment thesupplier may
well drop the rates. "
Chan said that users should seek
external advice from companies such
as Gartner whichhelp renegotiate , to
multimillion-pound contracts and ,
at
the smaller end firms like Silver ,
Bullet Associates.
Alternative licensing models
New models software licensing of
can benefit users these tough in
economic times and one these the ,
of
is
pay-per-usage model also known as ,
Service Provider Licensing
Agreement SPLA
popularised by ( )
,
Salesforce.com.
Woodson Martin vice-president ,
EMEA marketing Salesforce said at
,
Use themost cost-effective processing by scaling upyour server such as to the IBM series rather than scaling out
z
directorseverywhere arefacing
,
,
"
IT
thenightmare expensive fixed of
contractsforsoftware maintenance onstrate some third-party software
to
ing scenario for their enterprise
forlicenses they have never providers the actual usage and applications such as Oracle This might .
deployed . This brokenmodel of
distribution
of the product as way a
to mean scaling up using an HP
shelfware causing many look for justify lower per-user cost fee said Himalayaserver IBMzSeries
"
is
to
a
or
or
,
alternatives like cloud computing
or
Integrity ,
JeffAnders All-Access product
,
mainframe ratherthan scaling out ,
where they canstart small and
,
marketing manager Embarcadero.
at
which uses more server boxes and
pay for what they use. One final way canincrease the licence fee.
"
One enterprise "Awillir igness can ensure they are
organisations When looking your licensing
"
at
provider that
software
play hardball and
to
not overpaying on their you have do the maths Different to
.
recently changed the havevery vigorous software licences is to
vendors treat multi-threaded
way licences its check the application different ways and might
negotiati onswith
it
is processors in
, it
Embarcadero.
software licensed the right
,
is
yoursoftw are partner
to
pay buy single SMP machine to
a
Thesupplier offers
,
and not processors ,
particularly withthe financing and
users open access to
nearly al
ways pays linked wrongly to
discounts available said Barnett. "
with
,
every product ,
of
f
"
processors said Gary
multiple , theend the day my
"
At
of
customers paying for what
,
Barnett analyst The ,
at
that willingness play
experience is
a
to
they use including third-party ,
Bathwick Group. hardball and have very vigorous
applications integrated into Suppliers suchas HP can help IT
negotiations with your software
platform. departments makesure they are partnernearly alwayspaysoff said
Embarcadero'
Balancing costsduring recession Am.
"
s
We have found useful dem
, IT a
using the most cost-effective process
"
it
to
Barnett . "
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