Dealing with system integrators
May 12, 2008 4:21 pm freesoftwareI was interested to read the exchange around Matt Asay’s “dealing with system integrators” post last week.
What it comes down to is when you’re a free software producer, if you want third parties installing and commercially supporting your software to partner with you, you need to offer something in return.
If my company wants to have some free software commercially supported, I would laugh any integrator who suggested buying a subscription to the commercial version, and who refused to start working on integration until I’d purchased if there were no benefit in that for me. I would insist that the integrator installed & supported the Free version, unless there were very compelling features I needed in the commercial version.
If Alfresco had tied the hands of the guy in front of me behind his back, I would go find someone with no such constraints to support the software.
So for the three people involved in an official integration partner deal (Alfresco, the integrator, and the client), all three parties must have some interest for the deal to happen.
The client wants cheaper, high-quality software. If the commercial offering gives compelling features, he may pay for it. If it doesn’t, he’s not an idiot.
The integrator wants to make some money on the support deal. If being an Alfresco partner gets him more leads, more deals, more clients, more money, then he’ll go for that, and will pay an annual partnership fee, your annual training seminars and any other costs you associate with being a partner. If partnership is a mill-stone around his neck restricting what he can offer his clients to keep them happy, he won’t.
Finally, Alfresco, the software producer, wants as many copies of their software installed worldwide, and they want to ensure high quality local support (so they have an interest in having a high-quality partners network). They also want to maximise the number of installations of commercial versions, and thus have an incentive to ensure that the commercial offering is compelling for people who will be paying for support.
Forcing integrators to sell commercial copies of the software before doing integration doesn’t in itself make those versions compelling. In fact, if you force extra conditions like the ones Matt outlined, you run the risk of helping a renegade unofficial Alfresco support network to spring up. You’re selling free software, they’re free to support it without going through you. If that happens, you have a short-term gain for a long-term loss.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
What you find, however, is that the SIs are often grateful for the help in convincing their customers to pay for the software. They don’t want to be pressured into giving away someone else’s software when they realize there’s a symbiotic relationship between them and the software vendor.
I think you may be overlooking this important point, and that the allure of leads is easy on the SI, and hard on the vendor. Why give leads to someone until they’ve demonstrated their willingness to promote the vendor’s business? It’s really not as easy as some want to believe, which is why most open-source companies do exactly what I propose in my blog.
But thanks for commenting. I really do appreciate it.