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Is It Time To Replace?

In my experience, replacing E/CTRM software isn’t something that users do lightly – if at all – until they are forced to do so. The problem is that even though the software may no longer be supported by a vendor, even though it is all held together with sticky tape and chewing gum, no one wants to repeat the blood, sweat, and tears it took to get the thing installed and implemented properly in the first place! The risks of replacing are often deemed – probably correctly – to be extremely high and it is better the devil that you know….

However, things just might have changed? The rise and reality of CTRM in the cloud could be the turning point.

Periodically, a vendor will determine that a particular platform or product needs to be phased out and puts forward a plan to withdraw support over time. Perhaps, a vendor is acquired by another and the acquired platform is going to be phased out or perhaps aging technology has meant a fresh approach and a new platform. All of these events have happened and are happening even today. In other instances, the vendor simply is ill-equipped to keep up with key industry changes and just can’t move the functionality forward fast enough. Here in Europe, there are a couple of vendors who have ‘end of lifed’ their products either deliberately or simply by virtue of the fact that they have gone out of business, been acquired, or lost their way. So this is very much a current topic.

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The benefits of using applications in the cloud include a lower cost of entry. However, it is just possible that one of the benefits is also a lower cost of exit too? Users locked into an unsupported aging product need not face the turmoil and expense of selecting and implementing a new solution these days. They can chose to deploy on a commercial solution in the cloud from a host – and ever increasing number – of vendors. In theory then, the costs and issues around implementation are minimized to the extent that the implementation mountain is more of a hill? In practice, there is more hair around this that perhaps would be initially thought as cloud often means a compromise between accepting a generic solution or going through an implementation of customized software that is hosted in the cloud. This is why more and more vendors are marketing pre-configured solutions in the cloud such as Agiboo, Contigo, Generation 10, FIS, Eka, and others. OLF is seeing success with pre-configured versions of its Endur software as by taking this approach, it reduces the cost, complexity and time scales around implementation. CTRM in the cloud is driving a host of tailored, more specific point solutions in a sense, that are highly targeted at an industry segment or a specific commodity. As one senior vendor staff told me recently, if the software can’t be used ‘as is’ by 100 customers then the economics of the cloud may make little sense.

Cost of exit is also interesting. Once in the cloud, theoretically it should be relatively easy to swap to another product and vendor? There is a cost of course but that cost ought to be many times lower than a traditional replacement. Paying a monthly usage fee that includes support and so on, provides users with a usable metric by which to compare vendor offerings in a purely cost-centric manner and any good cloud contract should include details around exiting the platform too. Of course, its not all about cost and therein lies the complexity.

However, a logical conclusion from the rapid increase in cloud-deployed CTRM products does suggest that switching may well become easier especially for smaller, less complex operations that have a limited set of requirements. ComTech does expect to see an increase in replacements in the coming months and years because of this and we will be watching to see how that goes.

What do you think?

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