Price Barriers To Software Sales

Vendors of complex, on-premises software products face a major hurdle when pursuing each sales opportunity: the cost of the proposed purchase is much larger than the price of the software alone.

In order to implement a new software application, the customer will likely need to purchase most or all of the following items:

1. application software licence and technical support contract
    
2. hardware (servers, storage etc) and support contract
    
3. infrastructure software (operating system, database, clustering, tape backup) licences and technical support contracts
    
4. professional services for installation & configuration of hardware & software
    
5. professional services for customisation of application software and customer training

Industry estimates typically put the total solution cost at between 7 and 9 times the price of the application software alone. This high cost for the overall project weighs against it strongly in the customer's mind: both perceived risk and the difficulty of achieving a return on investment are sharply increased.

Eliminating Price Barriers, Cutting Sales Cycles

Software vendors can dramatically increase their sales results by leveraging the I.T. on Tap platform.

I.T. on Tap uses a centralised computing model, with all hardware consolidated into an enterprise-grade datacentre. The company employs tools such as server virtualisation, storage networking, software build templates and automated software installation to manage its systems with reliable and automated processes.

When a customer requests a new software application, I.T. on Tap's systems deploy the software automatically using pre-defined templates. Within a few minutes, all of the customer's nominated staff have access to the new application.

Cost items 2), 3) and 4) from the list above are eliminated, replaced by a small monthly charge for the computer resources used to run the application.

This approach revolutionises the software sales process, with dramatic results:

• Prospective customers can trial application software (with the vendor's agreement) alongside their live production systems - immediately, without any need to wait for hardware deliveries or lengthy installations.
   
• With no installation work required, the vendor's technical staff can focus on customer dialogue and demonstrating the software effectively. The technical labour cost of the sales opportunity is cut substantially.
   
• Eliminating any requirement for the purchase of hardware, supporting infrastructure and installation services cuts the total solution cost substantially. This minimises the perceived risk of the project and makes it far easier to achieve a positive return on a now-smaller investment.
   
• The three points above enable the customer to make a much faster decision on the purchase, and one that is far more likely to be a "yes".

Getting Started

Contact us today, to begin a discussion about offering your software application on top of the I.T. on Tap computing platform for SMEs.