NET(net) is often engaged with our European clients after their Data Centre migration/transition phase has completed and the initial glow of clients and suppliers 'moving in together', 'redecorating' and ‘renovating’ and really getting to know each other has worn off! Ideally, for clients to maximize their strategic and economic benefits, it is better to get NET(net) involved much earlier in the process, even prior to the client/supplier matchmaker/courting process, but when we get involved later in the relationship, these are typical challenges we see: 1) Variance from initial sizing assumptions. This is to be expected with large, ...
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Forrester recently released their 2011 “Software Pricing and Licensing Trends” report. No surprise, “the cloud” is a hot topic, along with all of the potential and likely impacts as suppliers and enterprises evaluate and migrate to this new-ish delivery and pricing model. Forrester predicted that Microsoft would begin to formally offer pricing on Office by role-based user within three years, similar to some agreements it already has with specific firms. Um, sorry to tell you this Forrester, but that’s already the case with Office 365 pricing. Forrester also said it expects to see software providers increasingly allowing software maintenance ...
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There is a transformation occurring within the Enterprise ERP Hosting and Application Management market, moving from a dedicated infrastructure (allocated on behalf of customers to host enterprise applications from companies such as Oracle and SAP), to a more pure cloud computing model with dynamic virtualization of allocated resources. Fortunately for customers, this will mean lower prices, more granular and elastic scalability, and (finally!) more flexible contractual agreements. There is a transformation occurring within the Enterprise ERP Hosting and Application Management market, moving from a dedicated infrastructure (allocated on ...
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Due to Microsoft’s fiscal year-end in June, we see more agreement renewals in June than any other month of the year. As many customers prepare for their renewal evaluations, they should keep in mind these important topics. 1) Desktop virtualization promises reduced TCO, faster, easier application upgrades and better security management. Almost every enterprise is interested in these topics, but full-scale deployments are rare. Most clients are in the early stages of considering various methods of virtualization, though some enterprises are doing small-scale tests, while a few others have rolled out deployments to certain functional groups. ...
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You've been held captive by inflexible, inscrutable and inexplicable software licensing arrangements by likewise uncooperative, unsupportive and unabashedly shameless software suppliers. And, unfortunately, you seem to have Stockholm Syndrome-esque tendencies when it comes to escaping these predatory arrangements and ruthless relationships. [Because it's crass to suggest that software licensees should be likened to actual hostages whose very lives are threatened, I think it important to note that my supposition in this article is not meant to demean or otherwise belittle the suffering of those actually held hostage.] You've been held captive ...
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You Don't Need Us. Or Do You? Some prospective clients may believe they have all the right answers, get the best deals, have the best terms and conditions, have the best supplier relationships, manage their contracts and suppliers effectively, and therefore don't need services like ours. If you're of this belief, please consider the following. We offer a full scope of services to help clients improve sustainable value from their IT investments, but let's consider just one small area of IT Optimization for the purposes of illustration. Supplier configurtation options and pricing models can create vast consumer inequities. Even a simple ...
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Achieving commercial business success in a volatile global marketplace requires the vision to continually shape and re-shape the negotiation process and the ability to continually engineer and re-engineer the desired outcomes. This needs to be done, despite the obstacles that are in your way, and the obstacles that are placed in your way after your goals and objectives are known. Most of our clients agree that they must constantly negotiate to create and capture value and structure that value into complex agreements. This challenge becomes exponentially more difficult when dealing with suppliers with power in vertically integrated solutions, ...
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Every organization is hopeful that it will see a point where its IT investments achieve optimum value. This Optimum Value Point is the point where three axes intersect. On the “X” axis, you’ll find the capabilities of an organization to leverage technology to drive tangible business value, on the “Y” axis, you’ll find the supplier’s ability to understand the client’s business challenges, and their subsequent ability to architect and configure a solution in the way that maximizes strategic value for the intended use. On the “Z” axis, you’ll find the ability to maximize the economic and strategic value by way of industry best pricing and terms ...
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We don't often discuss topics of morality in business, and we think that's both a shame and a serious governance error. What are the characteristics of a "fair" business deal? Is there value in "holding the moral high ground" in a negotiation? What does "moral high ground" even mean, in the context of a large business transaction? Let's take a typical Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA) contract renewal as a case study. For most EA customers, the proposed renewal order would consist almost entirely of Software Assurance (SA) coverage for the client’s existing licenses. New licenses are typically added during the annual True-Up process, and ...
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New CEO Leo Apotheker is already off to a questionable start as HP’s new CEO. He hasn’t even started his new job yet (he starts on November 1), but what does he plan to do on day one? Well, he’ll be starting his new career in the cross-hairs of Oracle’s lawyers, as a witness in a courtroom in Oracle’s corporate espionage trial against SAP as he’s been called as a witness. SAP doesn’t deny the wrongdoing of former subsidiary TomorrowNow, but is simply disputing the amount of the damages. Clearly, Oracle’s goal will be to find out how much Leo knew about this, and when he knew it in an attempt to discredit him as much as possible amid ...
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