Buying enterprise software is different experience from busing consumer goods or even automobile. Direct cost (licenses) is very often is a small fraction of the overall cost. So-called Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is combined from multiple elements – licenses, maintenance and support, implementation, etc. Few days ago, I was reading an interesting article in Redmondmag.com – Study: SharePoint cost high due to inadequate skills. The article is talking about what is the associated operational cost of SharePoint. I found the following numbers in research made by Osterman Research interesting:
The average cost to manage SharePoint is $46 per user per month, according to a “State of the Market” study by Osterman Research, which surveyed “more than 120 IT executives, managers, and staffers at mid-to-large enterprises.” The study, conducted via an August survey, was commissioned by Seattle-basedAzaleos Corp., a provider of management services for e-mail, collaboration and unified communications, based mostly on the Microsoft stack.
What is my conclusion? Actually no conclusion today. I wanted to ask your advise. SharePoint is obviously not a PLM system. However, the nature of problems SharePoint is solving for many organizations is very similar – content management and collaboration. I was thinking about some comparison and tried to find similar numbers for PLM systems. What is the cost PLM system operation? What does it included? Is it a meaningful component of your PLM operational budget?
Best, Oleg
