Comments on: Cost of social software http://jonmell.co.uk/cost-of-social-software/ Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:56:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jon Mell http://jonmell.co.uk/cost-of-social-software/comment-page-1/#comment-4278 Jon Mell Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:33:32 +0000 http://jonmell.co.uk/?p=245#comment-4278 Hi Dan - I think IBM Connections is ~$110 / user for a one-off license (no charge for the server). Part of the problem with Sharepoint is that the licensing can be horrifically complex (server, database, client access) and the man-hours involved in customising the thing to get it to be 'social'. I've written some stuff on ROI (http://jonmell.co.uk/category/roi/) and Rob Gray (who works for BlueKiwi, a social software vendor) has as well. The key cost saving for a 'social' solution is not only in the license cost but the speed of deployment. Hi Dan – I think IBM Connections is ~$110 / user for a one-off license (no charge for the server). Part of the problem with Sharepoint is that the licensing can be horrifically complex (server, database, client access) and the man-hours involved in customising the thing to get it to be ‘social’.

I’ve written some stuff on ROI (http://jonmell.co.uk/category/roi/) and Rob Gray (who works for BlueKiwi, a social software vendor) has as well.

The key cost saving for a ‘social’ solution is not only in the license cost but the speed of deployment.

]]> By: Dan Smith http://jonmell.co.uk/cost-of-social-software/comment-page-1/#comment-4266 Dan Smith Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:26:50 +0000 http://jonmell.co.uk/?p=245#comment-4266 The cost of social software seems to vary quite a bit. One pricing model for a hosted enterprise system that I heard from a reputable collaboration system supplier was "roughly the cost of one full-time professional or $100K." Other systems (not SharePoint) seem to be in that range as well. Looked upon on the basis of cost per employee or cost per customer/member, $500K might not be much. However it seems that $100K for the system and hosting and $100K for the professional corporate comm person is a realistic target. And yes, it very likely will be better than SharePoint. These days "Nobody ever gets fired for buying IBM" has too often been replaced by "Nobody ever gets fired for buying Microsoft." Since IBM is no slouch in social software they might look at IBM but I have no idea what IBM's pricing model is. The cost of social software seems to vary quite a bit. One pricing model for a hosted enterprise system that I heard from a reputable collaboration system supplier was “roughly the cost of one full-time professional or $100K.”
Other systems (not SharePoint) seem to be in that range as well.
Looked upon on the basis of cost per employee or cost per customer/member, $500K might not be much. However it seems that $100K for the system and hosting and $100K for the professional corporate comm person is a realistic target. And yes, it very likely will be better than SharePoint.
These days “Nobody ever gets fired for buying IBM” has too often been replaced by “Nobody ever gets fired for buying Microsoft.” Since IBM is no slouch in social software they might look at IBM but I have no idea what IBM’s pricing model is.

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