RE: RE: Professional Services

Hi Everyone,

Just to throw my 2 cents into this.

Even with the Open Source scenario below, you would still need to add =
the
required ongoing staff and/or professional services folks to continue to
customize the system since you'll be diverting the code base off into
another direction - especially if you plan to add new features.  And, we
can't forget about all the documentation that needs to be written to =
train
people.  So you are now in the CMS development business (and how big is =
you
CMS programming & training staff?).  Damn, the CMS just keeps following
folks around like a persistent shadow!

Over time, the open source solution may present other hidden issues such =
as
if the employees who are working on customizing and documenting the code =
&
features leave your employ.  That's a situation where I would definitely
want to go hide in a corner in a fetal position - especially when =
something
goes wrong.

Best,

Graham

________________________=20
J Graham Zahoruiko=20
President & CEO=20
Refresh Software Corporation=20
51 Middlesex Street=20
North Chelmsford, MA  01863=20

P: 978-251-8870 x221=20
F: 978-251-8872=20

www.refreshsoftware.com=20

SiteRefresh - Core Content Management=20
Free Online Trial & Developers Sandbox=20

-----Original Message-----
From: cms-list-admin-/[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] =
On
Behalf Of Greg Stark
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2004 4:14 PM
To: cms-list-/[email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: [cms-list] RE: Professional Services


Amal,

Without a great deal more information any sort of estimate of what you
should expect to spend on Professional Services would be a complete =
guess.
However, the following are some "industry" numbers as well as some data =
from
our experiences implementing systems for our customers.

Industry research groups such as AIIM, Gartner, Forrester, etc... will =
quote
numbers anywhere from 1 to 5 times the cost of software licenses for
implementation (Professional Services).  These numbers are generally in
reference to implementation of one of the major Enterprise Content
Management systems from a vendor such as Interwoven, Vignette, =
Microsoft,
Stellent, Documentum, etc...

If you are considering an Open Source CMS, Professional Services will
constitute 100% of your budget as there will be no software license =
fees.
Based on our experience in web platform implementations, professional
services in a typical public web site, Intranet, Extranet, e-Learning or
Customer Portal application should be less than 50% of the software =
license
fees with the total implementation under $100k (with the average
implementation cost around $50k).

With your stated budget of $30k to $50k you should be able to obtain a =
very
nice commercial or open source CMS and all the basic implementation
assistance that should be necessary (20 to 100 hrs. depending on =
complexity
of your application).


------------------------------------------
Gregory M. Stark
VP of Marketing
(952) 401-8008
(612) 532-4426 (cell)
www.ittrium.com
=20

-----Original Message-----
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 19:05:32 -0800 (PST)
From: Amal <amalsinghconsult-/[email protected]>
To: [email protected], [email protected]
Subject: [cms-list] Professional Services

Hello,=20

We are small business looking for CMS solution.

What is the expected industry average (if any) for
professional services fees? A few consulting firms
gaves some idea but we would like to know what the
average % cost vs. total software license.
=20
Our budget for entire CMS solution is $30,000-50,000
for license and consulting services combined so how
much should we expect to spend on consultants? There
is no need for data conversion or migration of any
sort, we'll just start using the new system and our
content will be created from scratch.

Any feedback appreciated.=20

Thanks.
Amal Singh

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