While it won’t save you money when negotiating the initial contract, asking your software supplier to remove the audit clause from their contract could well save you a bunch of money down the line. An audit clause gives your software supplier the right to audit your usage of their software at any time. Time and again software suppliers have audited users and found their actual software use is above the contracted level and so more licenses (and money) is demanded. My blog last week reminded you to check usage rights to avoid non-compliance. So during contract negotiations, always ask that the supplier remove the audit clause. Some will and some won’t. But if they do then you might well save some money and some compliance embarrasment in subsequent years.

It looks like email could well be the next battleground for Microsoft and Google to fight over market share.

As organisations evaluate e-mail strategies over the next five years, Microsoft and Google will compete for the bulk of the market, says analyst Forrester Research. This is due to cloud-based e-mail being the cheap entry point to a deeper and more profitable collaboration deal for vendors. Microsoft and Google will be happy to outbid each other to win your e-mail business because they know there’s more money to be made in conferencing, team sites, videoconferencing and social software down the line. Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and Google are rapidly approaching feature and price parity in their e-mail offerings.

Research from Forrester found that in 2009, 76% of US employees in small companies used Outlook for e-mail. However, Google has been building its direct sales organisation and partner channel aggressively over the past three years – claiming more than two million businesses use its Google Apps Enterprise Edition product.

So anyone facing the prospect of signing another 3 year Microsoft Select or Enterprise Agreement may want to consider their options more thoroughly The future is cloud and the question is only when do you go there, not why.

SAP is changing because it needs to find different ways to make money. Companies like SAP and Oracle are under some pressure to generate more revenues from their customer base. They are spending more time farming their client base for new revenues than they are hunting for new clients. So if you thought you had signed a big cheque to SAP a few years ago and that would be that, then think again. You’ve probaby noticed that your SAP sales rep is calling at least once a quarter now and his support team will be mining deep into your organisation to create new opportunities if none are currently on your budget plans. And you’ll be well aware of the furore created when SAP announced it was planing to raise it’s annual software maintenance and support costs from 17% to 22%. Still, it’s no all bad news and there is some good news filtering out; SAP as long been working towards changing its software licencing pricing policy to give greater choice. While you can still choose to pay for the whole lot upfront, they can also offer phased payments and subscription licencing. Remember to ask your SAP sales rep for financing options whenever they present a proposal to you.

Computer Weekly recently surveyed 500 users to find out how likely they are to deploy open source software in their businesses, given the current economic crisis. The majority of respondents were positive about open source software, with a quarter (26%) already using it. A further 45% stated that they were likely to use it, even if only for some functions. Use of open source software appears to be more common among smaller organisations (those with less than 50 employees) and organisations with turnover under £10m. Cash is king with smaller businesses who often don’t have the deep financial pockets of a large organisation, so it’s no surprise that SME’s are the biggest advocates of open source products during the current economic difficulties. But Silver Bullet Associates believes that the take up of open source will continue on apace even after the recession is over for many reasons, and not just cost. Breaking the restrictive chains imposed by proprietary software vendors is one great reason to think open source. So it won’t be just SME’s that embrace open source; everyone will use it at some point soon and the mainstream software vendors will have to find another way of making revenue hay as their sun wanes.  

Oracle has blamed falling first quarter sales on the recession, currency shifts and weakness in resellers’ performance. The database specialist posted a 5% decline in revenues to $5.1bn but managed to increase profits 4% to $1.1bn. One example of reseller underperformance is quoted as SAP who is selling fewer databases because its application business is down. New Oracle software licence revenues were down 14% while technology licence revenues fell 19%, and software licence updates and product support revenues dropped 8%. Services turnover fell 18%. Keeping expenses in check was partly responsible for the small increase in profits. According to Oracle their sales pipeline continues to grow, although closing rates are more conservative. The firm reckons sales will drop 1% to 4% compared to a year ago. So if you have to negotiate a new or renewal deal with Oracle this year, then make sure you squeeze their sales rep (or their reseller) for every last drop of discount before you sign. They are under pressure to keep revenues moving forward, and it’s your money that they need to keep their commission stream flowing! If you are unsure of how to negotiate with Oracle, then let Silver Bullet Associates guide you through their sales maze.