Now that the economy has tipped the scales in favor of software buyers rather than the ERP, CRM, BI and supply chain vendors, now is the time to assert your software-purchasing rights and determine the most beneficial contract-negotiation strategies for today’s enterprises. So how can you do that? One way is to check out Ray Wang’s always-informative and most helpful blog—A Software Insider’s Point of View. Wang, a star enterprise software analyst at Forrester Research, is all about helping today’s customers better manage their vendor relationships. Way back in December 2006, he and Forrester published a groundbreaking report: “Enterprise Software Licensee’s Bill of Rights.” The intent of the report was to create and improve a “reusable contract negotiation model that cuts across the five key phases of the software ownership life cycle,” Wang notes. These include: selection, implementation, utilization, maintenance and retirement. Now, it’s time for a refresh. Wang wants to update the Bill of Rights to include such topics as virtualization, SaaS and subscription pricing, newer usage-based pricing models, open source, and vendor lock-in avoidance. The next version will be published in the second quarter of 2009. So go to the Software Insider site, read Wang’s pitch and take the survey to voice your opinion on what new rights should be added, what should be updated and what should be retired. “For every good idea or comment, whether or not we use your idea,” Wang adds, “we’ll send you a copy of the final report.” You can also send a private e-mail to him. As Wang says: “Let’s put the collective wisdom of the Web to work and help our end-user clients create a fair win-win playing field with the vendors.” Related content opinion What CIOs Need to Know About HP's Acquisition of Autonomy Here's why you should be paying attention: it's a big analytics play that could help lead the way to making sense of all the unstructured data that's overwhelming enterprises of all sizes, says analyst Charles King. By Todd R. Weiss Aug 24, 2011 4 mins Business Intelligence Data Warehousing Data Management opinion Enterprise BI Made Simple Will a simplified version of enterprise business intelligence software spur user adoption? Gartner analyst James Richardson thinks so. By Todd R. Weiss Aug 15, 2011 4 mins Business Intelligence Data Management opinion ERP Market Shake-Up: What It Means to Your Company ERP vendors continue to merge and be acquired at a steady pace in 2011. Here are some tips on how you can protect your company's interests as the marketplace continues to shift, from analyst Albert Pang. By Todd R. Weiss Aug 03, 2011 4 mins CIO ERP Systems Enterprise Applications opinion Cut IT Costs for Older ERP Apps With Third-Party Support Some large enterprises are looking to third-party ERP support providers to reduce their maintenance and support costs by 50 percent or more rather than sticking with their existing ERP vendors. Rebecca Wettemann of Nucleus Research explains the circu By Todd R. Weiss Aug 02, 2011 4 mins ERP Systems IT Strategy Enterprise Applications Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe