Re: Vendor package pricing

I'm not certain about that 'drop support' suggestion. I find many of the little guys do a better job than the big companies of keeping those contracts in place. I'd call it pretty even in my experience.

And remember this is just Larry's suggestion of one way to price it. Perhaps pricing the various types (830/850/etc) is another viable way to get those new little guys on board for a lower price. There may be

How would you price additional LPARs? Unlikely the vendors will accept "Free" because there IS cost there with something like EDI. There is installation, frequent updates, and each LPAR needs to properly communicate and there may be additional support calls. For TLI though it's the same as for a brand new customer 100% plus the full AMC. When that new LPAR supports just a small plant in a different timezone unfortunately TLI simply gets 100% of ZERO because the customers aren't buying it.

With ERP though you can charge by module and by user and such. By user is not an option for EDI as that's a back-end piece and users never see it. If they were selling the database I could see pricing by max number of rows in say the customer file but compliance would be a nightmare! Software vendors don't like convoluted compliance either. And honestly that's a problem with my 'transaction volume' suggestion for EDI, it would have to be reported to be charged.

- Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

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On 8/24/2017 10:11 AM, Rob Berendt wrote:

There's a difference between the hardware side and the software side.
Sure, in the case of a service bureau or some such thing a per transaction
fee or some such thing may make sense as they would be burning more CPU or
some such thing.

I talked to one vendor. He'd rather charge more for the little guy since
they seem to need more support than the guy who has their own IT
department that knows what they are doing.

I too want the vendors to make money, stay in business, enhance their
products and provide support.

I just don't want the larger guys always having to subsidize the smaller
ones.

Who is most likely to drop maintenance and scream like a hungry baby with
diaper rash when it's time to upgrade when they get hit with the bill for
back maintenance and whatnot? Probably the smaller customer.

Do ERP software vendors charge by number of rows in your item transaction
history? By how often you run a bill of materials explosion? No, they
often charge by what modules you have: AR, AP, GL, INV, etc. That's why
it makes more sense to me to charge EDI by modules: 830's, 850's or
bundles thereof.


Rob Berendt