Nucleus, which specializes in surveys based on research carried out among vendors’ reference customers, examined the ROI on enterprise portal software from IBM Corp, Plumtree Software Inc, and SAP AG, and found that at least 80% of IBM and Plumtree customers had achieved a positive ROI from their portal deployment. SAP did not fare as well, with Nucleus maintaining that fewer than half of SAP’s customers indicated that they had achieved a positive ROI.
The company said all three approaches delivered value but required substantial investments of both time and dollars to achieve a positive ROI. It said that ROI rather than total cost of ownership is the best way to evaluate portal software. However, there are several hurdles in the way when it comes to achieving an ROI, including integration with existing technology, the scale of the project, and the cost of deployment.
The survey showed that 85% of Plumtree customers, 80% of IBM customers, and 42% of SAP customers achieved a positive ROI from their deployment, and that benefits included increased employee productivity and reduced headcount, cost-avoidance, reduced customer support costs, increased revenues, and reduced IT costs. As far as increased productivity of employees was concerned, 85% of Plumtree’s customers, 60% of IBM’s, and 45% of SAP’s, cited increased productivity.
Nucleus is becoming known for its controversial ROI surveys and has raised hackles at several of the top enterprise applications vendors over the year as a result of its methods and results. Nucleus conducts interviews with vendors’ reference customers maintaining that they are likely to be well disposed to the vendor. Vendors are dismissive of the results and point out that the number of customers interviewed are statistically insignificant.
Source: Computerwire
