Nice post Kevin.
On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 5:20 AM, Kevin Keane <subscription AT kkeane DOT com>
wrote:
> I've got to defend management here. IME, they DO ask for evaluations,
> reports, executive summaries, the works. But they only ask it for the
> short list of products after an initial culling, often only between the
> two or three finalists. How many commercial enterprise backup systems
> are there on the market? More than that, I'm sure.
>
> That's where marketing matters. Marketing isn't about selling. It's
> about getting on the short list. THEN you can let the product sell
> itself on the merits.
>
> Bacula has strengths and weaknesses in that area.
>
> Strength: viral marketing. Those "in the know" - us - appreciate the
> quality, and can work to get it onto the short list.
> Strength: reasonable visibility within the Open Source community. I
> discovered it because it had administration modules in webmin.
> Weakness: the name and tag line. It doesn't matter when selling on the
> merits, but it's a huge issue with getting on the short list.
> Weakness: little known outside Open Source. That's a double-whammy since
> many managers still tend to be skeptical of Open Source to begin with.
> Weakness: no slick brochures, white papers, etc. When a manager asks his
> employee "give me a short list of backup solutions", the employee will
> start with google and download whitepapers and executive summaries. And,
> no, the "What is Bacula" page does not count.
>
> And let's also not forget: (most) managers aren't in the business of
> promoting Open Source. They are in the business of solving their
> business problems. Sometimes, Open Source is the answer, sometimes it isn't.
>
> As a consultant, I advise many customers to buy Microsoft servers. I
> personally prefer Linux servers, but for many situations, Windows really
> is the better solution. I'm running a mix of both in my own office.
>
> And I warn my customers of using OpenOffice.
>
> But I point them to the Gimp for image manipulation.
>
> I host their Web sites on LAMP.
>
> etc. etc.
>
> Ultimately, solving the problem matters - and licensing cost is only one
> factor in the equation. Very often a minor one.
>
> Ryan Novosielski wrote:
>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>> Hash: SHA1
>>
>> Trouble is management these days in a lot of places doesn't know enough
>> to make a decision other than on a cost or name basis. You'd expect if a
>> person was unsure, they'd ask for a walkthrough or a synopsis, maybe
>> with an extended trial period -- not just reject outright.
>>
>> Mag Gam wrote:
>>
>>> I have got a lot of convincing to do.
>>>
>>> :-(
>>>
>>> Will try my best.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 2:16 AM, Jon Ingason <jon.ingason AT sentor DOT se>
>>> wrote:
>>> Scott Lambert skrev:
>>>
>>>>>> On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 08:00:21PM -0500, Mag Gam wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I agree for the most part of what you said but when *we* (our team) is
>>>>>>> competing with other teams in the firm to design and implement our
>>>>>>> solution we also want management to take us seriously. Most of our MBA
>>>>>>> management like names with acronyms..TSM **cough, cough**, versus
>>>>>>> something a 10 year old would say to his sister, "baaaa-cula" . In
>>>>>>> addition, choosing a produce named "Baucla" -- virtually unknown to
>>>>>>> management -- against a known BUT expensive product could be a risky
>>>>>>> move on their part, therefore I asked the initial question.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> Make up an acronym using the letters B, A, U, C, L, and A again. Then
>>>>>> spell it all in uppercase BACULA. It's a longer acronym than TSM so it
>>>>>> must have more features and be a better product. :-)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>> What about
>>>
>>> B - Backing up data with
>>> A - Advacned
>>> C - Control
>>> U - Utilities over
>>> L - Lagre
>>> A - Area or Areas
>>>
>>> ;-)
>>>
>
>
> --
> Kevin Keane
> Owner
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