Cost of Maintenance
According to Forrester, application vendors charge between 17-22% of license costs for application maintenance, with Oracle leading the pack. It amounts to re-buying the software every 4-5 years. What do you as a customer, get for such hefty fees? Well, if you call the vendor for help, little to nothing, as your bugs are usually already known and either fixed or on the roadmap for a future release.
For vendors with an acquisition strategy for growth, this is a lucrative revenue stream. Vendors use maintenance fees to fund future development. But what do you care? If your business processes are stable, you've had a few years under your belt with the software already -- so most bugs are known to you -- then you're getting nothing for your maintenance investment. So here's an idea -- stop paying maintenance fees, shore up in-house support and re-buy the software when you want new functionality.
For vendors with an acquisition strategy for growth, this is a lucrative revenue stream. Vendors use maintenance fees to fund future development. But what do you care? If your business processes are stable, you've had a few years under your belt with the software already -- so most bugs are known to you -- then you're getting nothing for your maintenance investment. So here's an idea -- stop paying maintenance fees, shore up in-house support and re-buy the software when you want new functionality.
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