Yes, of course Remedy is called a "Help Desk application" BUT THAT'S WRONG! That's part of my point. It's NOT just a Help Desk application. It's an application development platform that just *happens* to commonly run Help Desk apps because that's the niche it fell into.
My point is, to survive, it needs to break that paradigm. And the best way is to get people writing apps that are not just Help Desk. Need to track monthly sales? Use Remedy. Need a visitor sign-in log? Use Remedy. Need a company web page? Use Remedy. Need an equipment checkout form? Use Remedy. Need to track pending orders? Use Remedy. Need a company-wide list of handy telephone numbers? Use Remedy. Need to track employee training? Use Remedy. That's the way the marketing should be, in my opinion, but the problem is, the expensive licensing makes all of that impractical. Why make your visitor sign-in log in Remedy and burn up costly user licenses when you can make a similar app (certainly not as good) in Access? Now please don't bombard me with messages saying something like, "Well, the reason you'd use Remedy and not Access is because Remedy is so good at..." That's not my point. My point is that people will use other tools (Access is just an example) and endure a lesser resulting product because the other tools are so much more affordable. Access doesn't have all the awesome capability of Remedy, but it's AFFORDABLE. Then people say, "Yeah, but if they reduced the cost of the ARS, they wouldn't make any money!" To that I contend that ARS is such an awesome, robust, and easy-to-use solution, BMC would make much more money by selling in VOLUME. Here's what I envision: Sell ARS at around $500 with NO support. If you buy this version, you have to pay for support on a case-by-case basis like Microsoft. Or use the ARSList. Or you could buy a support contract for X amount of dollars for unlimited support. Then think--ARS could be anywhere and everywhere. You could buy a copy and take it home and use it to stand up a personal web server. Or smaller development companies could buy it, write apps, and then sell the apps with the ARS bundled into the price. Say you write a shipping system. You could charge $1000 for the app you wrote and $500 for the ARS to go with it. Total bill: $1500. One stop shop. Right now there are a few third parties writing ARS-based apps (ESS @ Work) but how frightening is that? You pour your heart and soul into writing an app in Remedy and then get an interested party who wants to buy it but then have to tell them, "Yeah, we sell this awesome product, but to use it, you first have to go to ANOTHER company and buy THEIR product for $25,000." Man, that's a tough sell. And the reason why people get thrust into Remedy without training is because management doesn't realize what Remedy truly is and what it is truly capable of because of the *paradigm*...that is, the Help Desk STIGMA. If the ARS was more affordable, it could be marketed to a much wider audience and the paradigm could be broken. That's my point. Please excuse the long rant. -----Original Message----- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Brian Goralczyk Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 1:31 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Buy vs. Build ** Fred, I have been using Remedy for over 8 years, and it has always been called a Helpdesk application by people outside of the Remedy world. Granted I never describe it as such, and I correct everybody I can, but the fact remains, if you are not on the backside of Remedy, you seem to relate it to a helpdesk application. That might be because that is how it has been pushed and utilized for a decade plus. I have to say, I am not sure that ARS is dying either. Granted I know the "in" thing these days is ITSM, but that doesn't mean that once they get it into a company that they company doesn't realize they can use it for other things. I think of the problems is that there are a lot of people who gte put into the feed and care part of the system and only get trained on what they need to know i.e. ITSM. I have also found that there are many cases where these people don't know anything about Remedy and don't get any formal training. They are given books and told to figure it out. In fact, most projects that I have been on, the FTEs don't even know about the list. So where is the fault? Is it BMC for trying to make more money (and they seem to be selling a lot of ITSM licenses) or is it the companies for not sending their employees for proper trainiing? Or as is often the case, does the blame fall a little bit on everyone? Brian On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 9:42 AM, Kaiser Norm E CIV USAF 96 CS/SCCE <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hmmm...we'll see. I don't think just releasing a new version of the Admin tool (based on existing open source code) will do much to reinvigorate the ARS when BMC has discarded the "Your Business -- Your Way" approach. I've seen just one job posting for a custom developer recently...before that, it seems every single one was for an ITSM configurator. With fewer custom development jobs, developers are bound to leave the field for other toolsets where pastures are greener. When they leave, the ARS loses its biggest advocates of "Remedy as a rapid app development tool." As you lose advocates, you lose word of mouth, which is what grew Remedy into what it is. I honestly don't think ITSM will drive anyone to think, "Hey look at this cool development tool we have at our disposal." Instead, I think the mentality is more and more becoming, "Hey, cowboy! Don't touch that! It's too complicated. We don't want you breaking our OOTB solution." I think lowering the price and attracting new people in to build apps of all sorts and sizes is the only thing that will make the ARS a viable platform in the eyes of many businesses. Think about it...ask just about any outsider about Remedy and typically (not always) they say something along the lines of, "Oh yeah...that's that Help Desk thing, right?" not, "Oh yeah...that's that awesome rapid app toolset!" I can't ever remember talking to an outsider (a network engineer, a CIO, an IT specialist, etc.) who knew you could build applications with Remedy. -----Original Message----- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rick Cook Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:12 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Buy vs. Build ** I have to take some exception to your first remark, Norm. If the ARS were dying a slow death, why would BMC bring out a new Administrator tool (7.5) that will EXPAND the developer's ability to do core ARS development? I know that part of the reason for that is that it's old technology that's in the way of some architectural advances that need to take place, but that's my point. AR System developers will, with 7.5, have the ability to build things we can't even imagine doing now. How many software companies give developers like us that much power over their OOB applications? In my opinion, the core AR System development, which has taken a back seat (maybe in the trunk) to OOB apps for a few years now, WILL be making a renaissance in the next few years as companies that bought ITSM increasingly realize that with it, they got a pretty good workflow engine that is easy to integrate with their ITSM products. I take great pains to point out to new Remedy/ITSM customers that every part of that application suite was built with the same workflow engine they have at their disposal, and that a skilled and experienced development team can build an application to support any business function with it. I don't see AR System ever being the financial driver that it used to be, as the revenue model will always be more robust for OOB apps. But it can and should return to being more of a technological driver in the next 2-3 years. I do agree that an MSDN-like arrangement would be a net win for both BMC and for the developers. I have heard Doug say he's proposed it many times. I hope he continues to do so until his wisdom is accepted. Rick On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 5:50 AM, Kaiser Norm E CIV USAF 96 CS/SCCE <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Shawn/Bing: You guess hit the mark squarely. The ARS is dying a slow death, and unfortunately BMC is doing nothing to stop it. Think on it for just a moment. If BMC would lower the price of the ARS down to, say, the price of the Visual Studio (somewhere in the range of $500) and abolished ARS user licenses (they could continue to sell the user licenses for their OOTB apps), think of how many copies of ARS they would sell. I've written apps in a variety of environments, and to this day the fastest and easiest I've found is ARS. Build an app in Remedy and voila! Instant app that runs in Windows and Unix environments AND is client or web-based. When people see how easy and quick it is not knock out a complete application, they'll flock to it in droves. But as is, the licensing model blocks newcomers to the platform. It's the "thanks but no thanks" effect. True, ARS has its diehards (us), but we are a very small community. -----Original Message----- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) __Platinum Sponsor: www.rmsportal.com <http://www.rmsportal.com/> ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" html___ ________________________________________________________________________ _______ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org <http://www.arslist.org/> Platinum Sponsor: www.rmsportal.com <http://www.rmsportal.com/> ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" __Platinum Sponsor: www.rmsportal.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" html___ _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org Platinum Sponsor: www.rmsportal.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"
