My former colleague at Forrester, Ray Wang, just published version 2 of his An Enterprise Software Licensee’s Bill Of Rights, based on interviews with 71 enterprise software vendors and an online poll of 101 end user companies. Ray has become one of the most quoted analysts on the globe on issues related to licensing and software maintenance, and with the wide readership this report will receive, I thought it would be worth mentioning some of the implications to service and support.
Ray has been very outspoken in the past about the cost vs. value received from maintenance contracts (check out his ‘five tips to lower software maintenance fees‘ article), so I was a bit apprehensive when I saw the new report. But I find the Bill of Rights to be a very rational and balanced take on lowering risk and ensuring value for both vendors and users. It is especially interesting to see some “Web 2.0” thinking entering the picture, and some of the Rights will definitely raise the hackles of some very “Web 1.0” companies.
Here are some highlights, along with my take-aways: (more…)
Ragsdale’s Eye on Service 