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Total Cost of Aggravation Quotient An alternative method for analyzing technology purchases June 2003 A corporate attorney I know begins many of his presentations to prospective entrepreneurs promoting the idea of "not consulting an attorney as they start their businesses." He explains, tongue-in-cheek, that this strategy usually translates into greater revenue for his firm. Then he is sure to share the experiences of some of his recent clients who embraced this "pay (a lot more) later" philosophy and how those experiences enriched him. His message is that the aggravation of being on the wrong side of a poorly written contract or poorly considered legal choices can be avoided with forethought and planning. This adage "pay something now or pay more later" applies to many of our technology decisions. Contemporary information technology decision wisdom is focused on metrics that demonstrate project value, measurements like total cost of ownership (TCO), return on investment (ROI), and cash flow projections. Still, the science of defining these methodologies for justifying initial purchases or even the ongoing cost of ownership obscures other variables that rationalize choices in the buying process. Superimposing my attorney buddy's illustrations, the sum of these variables may be called the Total Cost of Aggravation (TCA).
The theory of TCA is an outgrowth of feeling incredibly frustrated in dealing with many vendors and their systems that have achieved various degrees of mission-criticality to my business. One recent experience has channeled that frustration into an articulate message to readers and the vendor's VP of Support. The vendor is Watchguard Technologies and the VP is Keith Clements.
Our choice of Watchguard as firewall vendor, over the more popular Cisco and Checkpoint solutions, was clear at the time. The cost and operation of a Watchguard device was significantly lower, ergo the TCO argument. In addition, since the initial cost was down, the ROI calculation demonstrated real value in the choice. Finally, we spoke to references and they loved the product!
During the subsequent lifecycle of ownership, a number of points of aggravation became apparent that contrasted with the experiences with Cisco-made equipment. All of these were in the area of support and communication; none were in the functional areas of the products themselves.
Keith responded positively to the comments. He shared that Watchguard realizes its crucial role in the network infrastructure of many businesses and is investing in improving responsiveness to these issues. Therefore, some of the sources of aggravation have already been remedied. Realistically, this is both for competitive and survival reasons. (My subsequent experiences, though not so desperate, have shown improvement.)
And this is one vendor among many. Empowered with an evolving TCA tool, I would not choose some of them. What would be the criteria measured by TCA?
No one can assure us that considering TCA in any technology purchase will eliminate the aggravation element forever. Still, it would be nice to know that our decisions that considered TCA will have staved off some white hair and session of persuading a vendor to do the right thing. Do you have any criteria to add to TCA?
2003 SmartPros Ltd. All rights reserved.
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