“Let me in!” – The Real Cost of ERP Seat Licenses
ERP LOGIN FAILURE MESSAGE:
“Error – too many concurrent sessions. Try again later.”
EMPLOYEE: “Seriously?! I have work to do!”
Sound familiar? Employees in many mid-sized businesses experience this frustration with the traditional per-seat license model for ERP. The problem stems from the fact that companies often estimate on the conservative side as to how many concurrent user seats to license in order to keep some measure of control over the system’s costs.
When you add up the costs associated with most ERP products, from the add-on modules and user licenses to recurring maintenance and support, there is going to be that inevitable sticker shock moment. Thus begins the effort to trim the package: Can we live without certain add-ons? Should we reduce the training budget? What about reducing our number of concurrent users? Obviously, not everyone needs to be in the system at the same time. That starts the guessing game as to how many per-seat licenses are enough. Most vendors have formulas designed to help you reach the perfect estimate, but a one-size-fits-all formula doesn’t really cut it. And never mind about the headaches you’ll have as you continue to monitor and adjust your number of users.
To manage a low number of per-seat licenses, companies often develop coping mechanisms to boot out users who have momentarily stepped away. For example, consider the real experience of a company whose employees set up an email address infamously known as “LetMeIn.” Any time an employee could not log into the system because the concurrent limit had been reached, the employee sent a message to that email address with the subject line, “Let Me In!” All potential users of the ERP system received the message, and anyone sitting idle in the system would then log out and let the employee know.
On the other hand, what happens when a company over estimates the needed number of concurrent users? Paying for too many users unnecessarily and substantially elevates ERP costs.
Get Unlimited User Licenses with Trek Cloud ERP
We know that the large up-front fees charged by many other ERP providers causes companies like yours to buy fewer modules and user licenses than you really need, which in turn leads to inefficiencies in your operations. We believe that no company should ever have to create a “LetMeIn to the ERP” email for their employees. This is why the pricing model for Trek Cloud ERP includes
- Unlimited users
- Full system functionality (no separate modules to buy)
Trek Cloud ERP delivers the essential, integrated business functionality that mid-size distributions companies need to grow their business. Learn more about Trek Cloud ERP.