Blackberry News & Tips Newsletter
 
NEWSLETTERS
 

CIO.com updates, insights and advice on technology, management and your career.

 CIO BlackBerry News and Tips
 CIO Research and Analysis
 CIO Microsoft
 CIO Insider
 
 
 
LEADERSHIP
 
CIO Executive Programs
The Leader in Face-to-Face Education for Senior Executives

Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »

 
CIO Executive Council
A Peer-Advisory Service and Professional Association for CIOs

Webcast: In the Google Apps Cloud: How to Achieve Your Business Objectives

Dec 3rd, '09, 1 - 2 pm US/Eastern (GMT-5)

Join Council member Brent Hoag, Director, Global IT, at JohnsonDiversey, as he discusses the adoption of Google Apps which has helped meet four corporate goals; sustainability, simplification, increased employee productivity and global collaboration.

Webcast: Collaboration Initiatives: Benchmarks & Best Practices

Dec 15th, '09, 4 - 5 pm US/Eastern (GMT-5)

Join Council members Ruth Thorpe, VP & CIO at the U.S. Pharmaceutical Operations of Sanofi-Aventis, and Gary Kuyper, CIO at Bethany Christian Services, as they speak about their collaboration initiatives and experiences in how and why they chose the social networking and collaboration tools they are using and their business goals for collaboration, and facing culture change challenges.

Data Overview: Collaboration Initiatives Field Guide: Benchmarks & Best Practices

This appendix to the Council Field Guide provides an analysis which discusses benchmarks for collaboration IT implementation costs, adoption rates and payoffs. The overview identifies top IT and business goals and satisfaction rates for collaboration initiatives as well as best practices and lessons learned for implementing collaboration IT.

More / Register »

Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »



 
 
RESOURCE CENTER
 
 
 

The Great Global Seat Scam

Ever talk to a con man? he’ll tell you that it’s the smarter folk who make the best marks. No ...

 

June 01, 2001CIO

Ever talk to a con man? he’ll tell you that it’s the smarter folk who make the best marks. No one is really dumb enough to draw their life’s savings out of the bank and hand the wad of cash to someone just so that they can hold it. No one, that is, except those who think they are canny enough to watch their money carefully.

Most global CIOs rather fancy their prowess round the negotiating table, and I think this is why they get swindled so regularly, and so thoroughly, by software companies.

Here’s a version of the scam I ran into last month. A company is about to buy a new "global" ERP software package from one of these ERP companies that’s promising all the usual global access hoopla. (No names here, and the circumstances have been altered for the sake of job protection.) Included in the deal is a "global" HR package that is desperately needed in the United States.

"How many seats shall we put you down for in HR?" asks the software salesman. "You’ve got 11,000 employees worldwide, right? And they’ll all be accessing the system. Better put you down for 11,000"?the CIO starts to say something?"and at a very substantial discount." The CIO hesitates, just the way a mark does when a con man reassuringly offers to let him hold the money again. Then the CIO acquiesces.

But you see, that particular HR package doesn’t do anything outside the United States. You can’t pay anybody in New Zealand with the package because it doesn’t know about New Zealand payroll. You can’t report on total compensation in Japan with it because it doesn’t handle Japanese pensions correctly. Very little data about Germans can go in there because of German privacy requirements.

Inside the United States it will be used. Folks will use the self-service capabilities, and they’ll be happy with them. Corporate headquarters will use it as the worldwide HR database. Every employee’s name will go in there, and vital information will be copied into it from the HR systems that are actually used to manage employees in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and Athens, Greece. But even assuming that some regional managers in Frankfurt, Germany, use it for appraisals, that only adds up to about 6,000 users.

I’m going into this in some detail be-cause I’m trying to make it sound like a plausible mistake, but in my experience, grotesque overbuying without even the shred of an excuse is the rule, not the exception. And it’s not just my experience. A senior executive at one of the Big Five?a former analyst at Gartner whom I’d better not name?estimates that the typical buyer ends up using about 70 percent of the seats he pays for. That doesn’t sound too bad, until you realize that this typical buyer is paying 40 percent more than he should. "And that’s at the end of the day," the Big Five executive went on. "When you consider that they probably shouldn’t be paying for users until the users start actually using the software, the cost is considerably greater."

 
 
Loading...
 
WHITE PAPERS

Next Generation Remote Infrastructure Management

Read this paper to see how Genpact helps extract value from RIM engagements through its RIMnexgenSM approach.
 

Exchange 2007 Risks and Mitigation Strategies

This whitepaper will review the strengths of Exchange 2007 and areas where CIOs should consider third party solutions.
 

Solving On-premise Email Challenges

This white paper presents ten on-premise challenges and their on-demand services solutions.
 

A Comparative Cost Analysis of Email Environments

This Forrester report will help you evaluate the full cost of your email environment and it will explore the benefits of cloud-based technologies.
 

An Infrastructure and Operations Analysis

This Forrester Report review three basic architectures to consider as you evaluate taking your email into the cloud.
 

Email and Web Threats Require a Layered Defense

Learn how web threats are changing and how using a layered defense strategy can give you the security you need.
 

WEBCASTS

An Open Framework for Business Intelligence

Architecting Business Intelligence Applications for Change
 

Email and Web Threats Require a Layered Defense

Can you trust the cloud to secure your enterprise from email and Web threats? This Webcast discusses how web threat...
 

Smart techniques for application security: whitebox + blackbox security testing.

Whitebox & blackbox application security testing are two approaches for detecting vulnerabilities in Web-based and ...
 

Lower the Cost and Complexity of a Mobile Workforce through Automation

Lower the Cost and Complexity of a Mobile Workforce
 

Extending Client Refresh - 11 Steps to Maximize Savings

11 Steps to Maximize Savings
 

Consolidate Your Servers and Storage to Lower Costs with Oracle Database 11g

Live Webcast
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
2:00pm ET/ 11:00am PT

Oracle Database 11g and Oracle Real A...
 

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notifications by topic when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library.

 
FEATURED SPONSORS
 
 
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

Cloud Computing--Latest Buzzword or a Glimpse of the Future?

10 Ways Excel Drives More Value from Your SAP Investment

AT&T Synaptic Storage as a Service. Expand on demand

Trend Micro ranked #1 against real-world malware. Read more.

Webinar: Jump-start your in-house e-discovery with Ringtail QuickCull from FTI Technology

Top Five CIO Challenges

Read the RSA report: Security for Business Innovation

64-page prescriptive guide to security, compliance, and IT operations.

Increase UPS efficiency without sacrificing protection.

eZine: A Roadmap to Reducing IT Complexity

Reduce risk, gain agility. See how Progress can help your business.

Virtualization Technology as a Business Solution

eZine: A Roadmap to Reducing IT Complexity

World-class trading technology solutions from NYSE Technologies.

If You're Paying for Telecom, You're Paying Too Much. Contact Asentinel Today.

Trade-In your old printer and save up to $1,000 plus free recycling!

infoBOOM! - The Mid-Sized Company CIO's Exclusive Community

Live Webinar: Applying Business Analytics. Click here to learn more

Removing Barriers To Better Server Virtualization Efficiency

4G Revisited. The Continued Evolution of Wireless Mobility.

What's Next for Enterprise Resource Planning?

Maximizing website Return on Information with high-quality search

Gartner Magic Quadrant, Application Delivery Controllers 2009

Authentication as a Service by Forrester Research

Cloud-Based Authentication for Next-Generation Extranets

Top to Bottom Performance Management Excellence at the City of Chicago

Return on Information: Google Enterprise Search pays you back. Get the facts.

VMware. The source for Business Infrastructure Virtualization.

ShoreTel tells businesses to untangle from competitors' complexity and turn to its brilliantly simple UC solution

See how AT&T can help protect your network.

Streamline IT Costs. Boost Performance with WAN Optimization.

Build your 1st app FREE with Force.com

TDWI checklist helps define data readiness for analytics. Download report.

A Clear View Toward Virtualization

Virtualization Technology as a Business Solution

The rules of infrastructure management just changed.

A Clear View Toward Virtualization

Interactive Q&A helps you discover key ways to maximize IT assets.

Ready to virtualize tier one applications? Check your virtualization maturity.

Think you can't afford a Cisco Switch? Cisco Catalyst Switches are now more affordable.

Five minute business analytics assessment. Immediate results.

The Case for Investing in Business Analytics Technology. Read white paper.

Upgrading to VMware vSphere with vWire

Top 10 Lessons Learned for Corporate 3G Mobile Broadband Deployments

CRM Built for IT: The Executive Guide to Selecting CRM that Meets IT Needs

Return on Information: Google Enterprise Search pays you back

ROI of Application Delivery Controllers

Making Consumer Two-Factor Authentication Simple and Cost-Effective

Mining the Cloud to Ease the Enterprise Compliance Burden

Solve Five Key IT Security Challenges with Cloud-Based Authentication