General Consultant Discussion

We have been implementing BizInsight since the first sniff of FRx retirement. Of course there are FRx hold-overs, two of which are now ready to convert. Initially, we took the catalog of reports and multiplied by a round number to determine the price for the project. Clearly this isn't scientific and we bear the load of the risk. Even with three options for reducing the cost of the conversion (reduce the number of reports, have their users do the conversion, or delay delivery of some of the reports), the customer thought it was too much. I am grateful for that because the only conclusion we came to internally was that we weren't charging enough. The question is, how do you provide a fixed price for the conversion of an FRx report to BizInsight (or Sage ERP Intelligence or some alternative if that is the case)?

For those customers with LOT of FRX's reports... Renovofyi might be a better more cost effective solution. The actual conversion cost could be under $1. Although the cost of the software will likely be most than Biznet and SI in the same configuration. With that said Renovofyi will get aggressive to get the deal too. Here is my renovofyi contact Maureen Okerstrom President Phone: 954.530.3580 E-mail: mokerstrom@renovofyi.com

Thanks, Jim. Not the direction I was headed but I did send a message to Maureen and I'll see where we get. I'm still open for pricing ideas too.

The problem is that the conversion of those existing reports is that of Lost money and is a no win fold anyone . The clients doesn't want to paid and you don't want the risk of fixed fee that goes south.

Why wouldn't you give the customer the Renovo option? Renovo claims something like 90% convert for a fixed price of $ 800. I'd lay it on the table as an option for the customer. I've not done any but for customers who love them some FRX -- I plan to lay out their conversion options A, B, C (Bizinsight, SI, Renovo) , provide pros and cons and (hopefully) allow them to pick. Last thing I want is to hear from the customer how much they loved FRX and how I couldn't deliver the exact same look and feel. Put some of the responsibility on the customer for the choice. In the instance where I did not do a lot of work witha product I'd tell the customer they'll get support direct from the company if needed. Personally I think we overvalue our contribution with some of these report conversions which the customer views as un-needed because they liked what they were getting before and see no reason to change (other than FRX being eliminated). I saw this with Crystal Reports and a few local partners ramped up with employees to do nothing but write reports. I think these partners saw big dollar signs from per report conversion. A few years (or a year) later the employee was gone because the customer really didn't see the value in paying a lot per report.

Three concepts to keep in mind: Financial benefit, choice and insurance. 1. $$ benefit. Figure out an approach showing them the $$ they might gain or lose by changing over. It probably will take a 3- or 5-yr time frame for this. Don't forget to include the value of enhanced operational (not just financial) reporting from the new tools. I think billing these tools as just ""FRx replacements"" minimizes their real potential and value. 2. choice. What Wayne said. Present the options in light of (1), and in your take on longer-term potential of each tool. Make part of the choice doing only the more valuable reports, and the leaving the rest in FRx for future decision. 3. Insurance. Treat the conversions not as per-report, but for the lot or sub lot. Like insurance, you know you'll spend more than planned on some, but less on others. Maybe break the reports into 3 categories (ez, med, hard) and price them per report class. If the customer wants to reduce cost, he'll leave some in Frx for later. It might also flush out some of the customer's true value in the reports, when a hard report isn't perceived as actually being worth it. Wayne's comment I think implicitly reminds us that we have a tendency to make decisions for customers. Part of our value is to help organize the problem into a form that makes it easier for the customer to see his choices in a way that they won't regret the decision later (not blame us for it if unhappy.) Also, if I were in your shoes I'd figure out how to organize a simple consulting proposal so that the customer pays for the analysis of the problem FIRST. He already rejected the 1st recommendation. Maybe apply the fee to the final project. It will, at the least, get their attention that this is not some simple ""sales"" problem for them.

Short-term: we have postponed the meeting and are going to come at it from a different angle as suggested. We were trying to make a decision for the end-user and need to allow them to participate in their demise/destiny. Thanks, @JimWoodhead @WayneSchulz and @JerryNorman