Support and Maintenance Plan for ERP Softwares

At times we get hit with this question from our clients "What is Support Plan? What is Maintenance plan? What is the difference between the two? and why am I charged again and again? blah blah .."

Those are valid questions, but I would prefer prospects/customers to learn bit more while purchasing the software.

Let me give an example here, if you decide to buy BMW or Merc for $50k you always get maintenance free (only with bmw) up to a yr or so during this time you get oil change etc etc and then once your maintenance period is over, you get into "support" mode where you get support from mechanics who are authorized by BMW for any fixes or patches or you buy insurance to protect your car.

Similarly when you purchase software from ERP vendors, they offer 1st yr Maintenance free (few of the vendors not all) its part of the license like "Interprise Suite", this provides you access to downloads so you can get any updates or fixes/service packs and apply it onto your system, you can access their forums and other valuable information .... After a year you pay a fee usually 8 to 12% of the license cost, now that’s a maintenance plan.

Now onto support, if you need helping hand from day one or if you can't figure out how the integration works or the integration is not working the way it should be or you have messed up some data anything where you say SOS then support kicks in here, if you have a support plan then SOS team will jump in and try to resolve it, if they find its a "bug", then you should get a fix/patch for it, its like road side assistance. Your support plan usually cost 15% to 25% of the license cost approx.

So its critical when buying software always see what vendors offer, and its always worth buying maintenance and support plan since the road you are travelling is not perfect and weather conditions may vary, so for safer ride always buy protection plans for your investment/business.

• Interprise Suite 1st yr maintenance is inclusive (free)
• Premier POS 1st yr you have to buy
• Interprise Suite 2nd yr onwards you have buy maintenance plan else you won’t get any software updates.
• Interprise Suite Support plan is annual
• Premier POS Support plan is annual
• Interprise Suite e-Commerce module if you have purchased then that’s extra.

Now you can proceed to buy BMW or Merecedes 2009 edition with protection plan.