I dont like you.
2014-02-19 21:08 GMT+01:00 Wouter Tebbens <wou...@freeknowledge.eu>: > some brief thoughts from my part: > > * keep the name "OpenERP" > * explain both the Apps and the ERP (if it stays in the name, so you > wouldn't drop it, right?) > * emphasise the importance of open source and software freedom (no > lock-in, free/open license, competitive market place, community, dynamic > innovation through open development, standing on shoulders of giants > (PostgresQL, Python, ...)) > > As Nhomar said, open source IS a very important customer value. And even > if some people don't understand much of it, I think it is very important > to explain the enormous differences between free software/open source vs > proprietary/closed software. It's the end of monopolies.... and > customers generally do appreciate the strategic value of freedom. > > best, > Wouter > > On 02/17/2014 12:11 AM, Carlos Vásquez wrote: > > Hi Fabien, > > > > I do like your thoughts about the marketing strategy in general. I agree > > with the communication techniques you propose. > > > > > > *ERP vs. Apps* > > > > As our fellow partners stated, the main discussion point is which image > > we do want to market to our customers. Speaking about the ERP vs. Apps > > approach, I kind of agree with both you and the other partners. We do > > not spend one cent in marketing, we only follow-up sales of people that > > contact us. For now it has been enough to keep us busy and running. > > Those people who contact us are almost always looking for an ERP. We > > usually have to sell an implementation project where other ERP solutions > > are also participating, sometimes there are big ERP solutions (SAP, > > Dynamics, Oracle, etc), and usually there are local ERP solutions. I > > think dropping the ERP solution as a marketing point, would affect us in > > this market. > > > > But, we have more and more calls from people looking for a cheaper and > > faster solution for their problems. An ERP implementation is not > > affordable nor suitable for their business. We are getting ready to > > offer OpenERP in a way very similar to your SaaS offer. This offer will > > be ready very soon and we already have several customers waiting to test > > it. Also, we started doing fast, out-of-the-box implementations about 3 > > months ago to gain experience for our new "SaaS" offer. It has proven to > > be very successful. These customers are more prone to identify > > themselves with a solution marketed as business apps running together. > > Here I do understand your point and it will help to bring more customers > > for this line of service. > > > > > > *Open Source* > > > > Also, the first kind of customers are usually more interested in an Open > > Source solution and they often understand its benefits and it can be an > > important sale point for them. The later kind of customers, usually do > > not know about Open Source, and they do not care. They need a good, > > affordable and reliable solution for their needs. Open or closed is the > > same for them. So again, we do have here 2 ways of marketing this > > because there is in fact (as Ana said) 2 targets. > > > > The one thing that help us in the sale process is that our customers can > > easily find us in the partners directory. The new partners page with > > automatic country filter is doing a great job with this. Also the way > > you redirect all kind of leads to us. > > > > > > Maybe it is a good idea to separate the ERP/OpenSource and the > > Apps/Product approach. Is it really necessary to choose only one way? I > > always like simplicity, but in this case, focusing only one target may > > be wrong, it is worth the discussion. > > > > > > *Pull strategy* > > > > There is one more thing I think I can give some valuable feedback. The > > services you offer to partners are somewhat rigid in some cases. I would > > love to sell an Enterprise contract with every OpenERP implementation. > > But this is not possible. The OPW is not made for end-users, us partners > > we have to take part in the process. We have worked out several bugs > > with the support team. Our experience has been varied. Sometimes the > > person assigned to the bug can solve the problem in a reasonable time > > frame, other times we have ended up fixing it ourselves. In all cases we > > have to spend at least a couple of hours in total of our time. If our > > customer reports a bug, we have to test to know where is the problem. If > > there is something wrong with some official code and there is an OPW > > contract we can send it to your team. In most cases, your team needs > > several replies from us. They usually do not do a very good job finding > > the problem, we have to do some heavy testing for them as they keep > > rejecting the issue of proposing some simplistic workaround. For > > important bugs, we end up spending more than 2 hours answering mails and > > doing remote desktop demo sessions. At the end we have to integrate and > > deploy the solution. I explain all of this because we have to charge > > several hours to our customers on top of an Enterprise contract. And we > > also need to support the localization and customizations. The total cost > > of support gets expensive. Of course your contract also includes > > migration. But if we want to use this service, we also need to charge > > some extra fee to migrate the localization and customizations. This is > > the main reason we do not sell Enterprise contracts very often, and the > > ones we have sold, are not renewing. > > > > For partners which do develop and do heavy customization, I find the > > Enterprise service and its pricing method very rigid. I am worried > > because we could work much better with your team and get you to earn > > more money, which is good for all of us. And for our new "SaaS" offer, I > > contacted you guys to work out something to include support from your > > team in our cost structure, but the only thing you have to offer is the > > regular Enterprise support with the usual "per user" pricing method. > > This will at least duplicate our cost for each user. This is not > > acceptable, nor is reflecting the reality. You know that in this kind of > > service, the amount of support is deluded because everyone is using the > > same exact code base. So we decided to go on our own, without your > > support. We ran some numbers, and we think it will be cheaper to support > > the platform ourselves, even with the migration process. > > > > So as of now, I do not think you have good service offer for us. The > > pricing structure do not work outside Europe of North America. I know > > and appreciate you are making efforts to adapt your prices. It has been > > a very good first step. But it is not enough. You have to differentiate > > configuration only partners, from development ones. We are more than > > open and willing to work with you. So, even if you make a great > > marketing strategy, the pull strategy you propose will not work very > > well in our particular case. I think it is the best way to go, we need > > to improve who does generating partners revenue will create revenue for > > OpenERP S.A. > > > > > > *Recap* > > > > All of this said. I do appreciate your efforts to involve the community, > > and do think that there are great things we (the partners) can do with > > you (OpenERP S.A.). A marketing investment in marketing will benefit us. > > And I do trust your judgment to integrate internal ideas with community > > suggestions into an excellent marketing strategy. > > > > Regards, > > -- > > Carlos Vásquez > > CTO · Director de Ingeniería > > CLEARCORP S.A. > > > > carlos.vasq...@clearcorp.co.cr <mailto:carlos.vasq...@clearcorp.co.cr> > > Cel: +(506) 8351 4484 > > CR: +(506) 4000 CORP (4000 2677) > > US: +1 (786) 472-4267 > > skype: crvasquez > > twitter: cvclearcorp > > > > 300 m. Este de la Escuela > > Calle de Platanares > > 11402 San Jerónimo, Moravia > > San José, Costa Rica > > (GoogleMaps: http://goo.gl/8YqM4S) > > > > http://www.clearcorp.co.cr > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~openerp-community > > Post to : openerp-community@lists.launchpad.net > > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~openerp-community > > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~openerp-community > Post to : openerp-community@lists.launchpad.net > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~openerp-community > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp >
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