For many years, it was a norm for all business of all sizes to purchase their critical business construction software outright, providing them with the advantage of full ownership as well as the responsibility to maintain the software in optimal condition.
However, with the rapid advances in software development and deployment, many software vendors are offering companies, including construction businesses the opportunity to rent software on a monthly or yearly subscription basis.
Led by software giants like IBM, Microsoft and Adobe, the subscription-based software has become popular among developers and users alike. In fact, according to the Harvard Business Review, Adobe’s Harvard Business Review garnered over 700,000 paid subscribers by 2013. It has gone on to collect approximately 8 million users and continues to be a resounding success for the company.
If you’re still searching for construction job management software for your business, then the pricing model is something that should look into before you purchase one. Here are several reasons why the subscription model is much more beneficial than paying outright for software packages:
Cash Flow
Because of their expensive, one-time purchase nature, custom construction management solutions are often considered to be a capital expenditure by many builders and contractors.
With no hefty upfront cost, the subscription model is much better for cash flow or businesses that can’t afford the upfront cost of some software. By adopting subscription-based software, the monthly subscription fee can often be moved from capital expenditure to operational expense budgets.
This better reflects a construction business’ regular operational reliance on the software while leaving capital budget available for other projects.
Scalability of Licensing
Paying for construction management software on a monthly or yearly subscription basis means that you can add or remove licenses depending on your current business need. If your company is expanding or you are not sure if you will require the software in a few months, then this added scalability of licensing can be a handy option. One-time-payment software packages, on the other hand rarely, provide the same scalability.
Updates
Updating software is an expensive, time-consuming, and inevitable pain perpetual software. It is also very common for many IT departments to face serious resistance to the idea of investing in the new version of the software they are already using
Additionally, when the IT personnel fail to secure the upgrade, they begin to face needlessly complicated support issues, especially if the vendor has stopped providing support for older versions. Subscription-based software, however, is always up to date. Automatic upgrading means everyone in your business has access to the latest features and security enhancements.
The only concern of some businesses about subscription software is their lack of “ownership” over the solution. In a way, This makes the business more dependent on the vendor. Without ownership of the software, businesses could unexpectedly find themselves without a critical business tool if the vendor suddenly goes out of business or suffers some other disaster. Fortunately, escrow agreements address this issue nicely. Source code escrow agreements give clients access to a program’s source code in the event the vendor ceases business operations so that the business can continue to use it.
Visit our website today at www.bizprac .com to learn more about how Bizprac can help your building business innovate and succeed in today’s competitive construction market. You can also call us at 1800 009 970 or send an email to sales@bizprac.com.
