As part of this month’s SAMPanel, we asked Rory Canavan of SAM Charter to share his thoughts on the Perpetual User License plan Oracle is potentially introducing.

Here was his response…

First impressions are that actually this is a win-win for all parties involved.  Instead of relying on a lurch to a 3 year point of understanding what you have paid for compared to what you have installed, an annual true-up will allow clients to gain a more accurate understanding of what Oracle software is installed and also gain greater control of those assets in supporting the business.

From Oracle’s perspective, it means increased client-engagement, thereby making the offer of help and support an easier stance to make rather than appearing like an Agent Provocateur at the time of a contract renewal.

It will also benefit Oracle from the point of view that it should offer a smoother flow of revenue, insofar as their sales consultants will have to offer less discounts to secure future trade as the potential “shock horror” moment of what is owed on a 3 year contract will be reduced when only considering a 12-month window for discrepancies.

Spookily enough, this could be viewed as emulation of how Microsoft manages their Enterprise Agreements (with a requirement to true-up annually over a 3 year contract).  One could argue that the one-year rolling contract of Oracle offers even greater flexibility in that you are not bound to a 3 year time-frame, although I would caveat that by saying I would be keen to review the exit clauses of coming out of a PULA.

Well done Oracle!  It’s not often I get to type a positive statement about how this software giant conducts itself, but it’s a pleasure to be able to do so today.

As ever, the devil is always in the details, and not having seen anything other than the press releases relating to this announcement I won’t invest in any party poppers just yet!

About the Author:

Rory Canavan | Owner of SAM Charter | Twitter | LinkedIn

With a technical background in business and systems analysis, Rory has a wide range of first-hand experience advising numerous companies and organisations on the best practices and principles pertaining to software asset management. This experience has been gained in both military and civil organisations, including the Royal Navy, Compaq, HP, the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) and several software vendors.