IBM Business Partner, Applicable, has announced that it now offers IBM Lotus Software as a Service (SaaS) to customers wishing to optimise their investment in IBM Lotus technology and reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO). This cost effective alternative to traditional IBM software delivery provides software and services on a simple per user per month basis.

With SaaS predicted to account for 30% of new business software in 2010, Applicable and IBM have announced this agreement to provide customers with the flexibility and adaptability they demand.  The Applicable offering takes flexibility beyond standard SaaS as it can be applied on three tiers to provide software management, licensing and services architecture to fully meet the customer’s needs. Applicable offers a full suite of customisable and flexible online, on-premise and on-demand SaaS solutions across email messaging (Notes and Domino) advanced collaboration (Sametime and Quickr) and social networking (Connections).

This flexibility, combined with the advantages of a monthly subscription-based model based on user volumes with no single up-front, fixed term fee, is already proving attractive to customers in the UK and Australia.

IBM Mid Market Team Leader Bridget Aki: ‘By creating this flexible offering Applicable has provided a very attractive proposition for customers – one that IBM’s sales teams can benefit from as it offers a cost-effective combination of IBM Lotus software with world-class services from Applicable in an attractive license that doesn’t detract from IBM’s licensing arrangement with the reseller.

Price Comparison 

For a company with 100 users of IBM Lotus Notes and Sametime, for example, the advantages of the Applicable SaaS equate to an annual saving of 55%. For example, the Lotus Connections client, (IBM part number D6158LL)

 UK SaaS price is £2.23 ($4.43AUD) per user per month

UK Passport Advantage price is £5.41 ($12.16 AUD) per user per month

 Customers are finding it easier to write the monthly SaaS cost into operational or current costs rather than as a capital cost incurred on an annual basis, thus helping budgeting for software and services.

 Peter Ross, Applicable’s Operations Manager in APAC describes the proposition as very advantageous for all parties, ‘Customers benefit from a flexible pricing solution based on actual rather than perceived need – they simply pay for each user on a monthly basis, at a cost that is lower than standard IBM Passport Advantage pricing. Their solution is scalable without being tied into up-front annual license fees. However, IBM still benefits from the license purchase by the distributor, Meier Business Systems, which helps protect revenues. What’s more the customer can, if they want, apply the SaaS licensing model to their Lotus estate on their own servers without the need to outsource or migrate to the cloud.’

Business Benefits

> Lower TCO for IBM Lotus software
> Flexible and cost effective subscription licensing model
> Scalability without tie-in to upfront annual license fees
> Removes risk of annual software acquisition/renewals review

Configuration to suit customer.

> On-demand, software and support from Applicable on a SaaS basis
> On-premise, software and services on the customer’s Lotus estate hosted on its own premises – no need to outsource or migrate
> On-line, software and services hosted as a cloud offering by Applicable.

© 2010 Applicable Ltd. All Trademarks acknowledged.