April 14, 2008

Rimini street profile

Interesting article about Rimini Street and the founder Seth Ravin. The huge question as Seth notes:

"Could a software company be in both the discount market and the full service market? Could you live in both worlds of charging customers full rates for your own service and discounts for other customers using your competitor's products?"

In SAP's case it is a clear "No". A more agile Rimini Street seems to be doing great, and do not have a built in conflict of interest that SAP suffered from. Third party maintenance is clearly important, introducing competitive pressures and providing a better value for customers. The resistance of software companies is understandable but antiquated. Would it be better if IBM followed this model with the PC? Do you want to buy a car or a house you can only go to one repairman for? Software is just newer, and stuck with a 1950s business model in support right now.

Posted by choppen5 at 11:15 AM