Lots of my former colleagues have asked me how I like doing NetSuite Implementations compared to the on-premise client server software that I used to implement. Well, it's different, for many reasons. The technology is obviously different, as is the implementation methodology and the market in which I now work. But the greatest change of all is that with NetSuite the implementation is really the beginning of the client relationship, not the end. Since the software is sold on a subscription basis it is really important that the client has more value at the end of the project than they initially expected to have. We have to come back next year and every year and ask for their subscription. Yes, it's an annuity based model, and that's one of the reasons I selected NetSuite, but think about it from the client's point of view. They know that every year we have to come back and so it's really in our interest to maintain a supportive and valuable partnership. And we do. On the other hand, back in the bad old days of large client server implementations, we cared about the client, of course, but at the end of the day, short of being tossed off the project, we were happy to have a middling relationship with the client. After all, unless you were angling for a job with them, you knew that in 6, or 8 or 24 months you were going to walk out the door and the relationship would end. (In the mid to late 90s this poor attitude was best reflected in some of the scams consultants inflicted on clients, like being reimbursed for travel they never took, etc.. Legendary stuff that gave all of consulting a bad name over time.) It's also true that the software vendor has a different relationship with the client in the Software as Service model of delivery. One of our favorite bloggers, Phil Wainewright sums it up as Software that really works. When delivering software as a service, the software has to work day one, because the vendor has not been paid yet. So delivering 'vaporware' means you are going home hungry; it's that simple. Again, in the bad, old days the software was paid for when the diskettes or CDs arrived, and months later when the Issue Log was inching towards a megabyte spreadsheet and the functionality was not meeting expectations, the vendor was announcing another big quarter. Adding insult to injury, the on-premise software vendors also charge an annual fee for maintenance. It's not cheap fixing all the problems that the software shipped with. Software as a service has a lot to recommend it. But outside of the article above I have not seen too much mention about how it creates the right incentives for vendors and solution providers, and gets rid of a lot of the worst ones. It's about time. |
