by
A prospective customer and I were discussing their current digital asset management vendor and DAM solution evaluation processes and how those have changed with the recent economic climate. They pointed to a previous software implementation they had gone through two years prior as a scenario that was one to learn from. During the evaluation process they had brought in a major consulting firm to help pinpoint their requirements, prepare a formal and lengthy RFP, evaluate responses, and prepare a risk assessment and so on. They ended up selecting a licensed software solution that cost them a couple hundred thousand dollars after the dust settled. That included the cost for the solution they purchased as well as the licenses for all of the required hardware and software needed to get it up and running. They also had to account for ongoing annual maintenance, training and implementation fees. What was surprising to me was that nearly a quarter of the cost was for the consultants.
They were never presented with a hosted option though some ASP providers were on the list of early vendors to look at. He couldn’t immediately recall why none of them were ever included on the list of vendors to receive the RFP though. I asked him if the consultant was involved in the implementation process at all and he confirmed that they had been. We got to talking about how DAM SaaS solutions provide the consulting and change management services as part of the package. Hosted solutions are designed to eliminate most of the heavy lifting and costs associated with licensed software implementations. Hosted providers typically bundle all of the costs into a single subscription fee of some kind, have fast and easy implementations and because they are working with their own software can make changes, configurations and even customizations fairly easily.
Continues @ http://blog.widen.com
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=ed74f847-0718-492d-8957-d2f2f6e38f8e)
Sean,
You're making an excellent point. SaaS for DAM or other flavors of marketing automation is as much about the "Service" part as it is about the "Software". We find a growing number of decision makers in marketing who can convince their IT counterparts of the benefits of SaaS. Even in the hypersecure FBI sector (Finance, Banking and Insurance) we find our hosted solutions gains acceptance and reaches further into the processes of marketers than we would have thought possible a couple of years ago. On the other hand, we also interact with companies and decision making units where SaaS is just seen as an "entry-level" solution, not fit for any industry grade process automation. In the latter case, changing their mindsets is a formidable task, but also a great opportunity to fine-tune arguments in favor of SaaS
"they had brought in a major consulting firm" – there is the problem…
Although DAM systems are large enterprise applications, the analysis and implementation principles are very different. Most (or all) major consulting companies don't have the expertise in this field. They will run the customer around until the money dries out.
I don't agree that hosted providers have the advantage because they work with their own software and they can make changes, configurations and customizations easily. Hosted or not, a good DAM vendor has professional services team that can handle this work and has a lot more experience in implementing DAM systems than a generic consultant working at a major consulting company.
When it comes to DAM specialization is far more important to look for as a trade in a consultant.
[...] SaaS Includes Consulting (digitalassetmanagement.org.uk) Asset Management, Digital Asset Management [...]
[...] SaaS Includes Consulting (digitalassetmanagement.org.uk) Asset Management, cloud computing, Digital Asset Management [...]