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Thread Upcoming Price Increases and Support Plan Changes
Mon, Feb 25 2013 10:22 AMPermanent Link

Arthur Williams

Zarksoft

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>>
Fernando Dias wrote:

Arthur,

I know it's not my business, but if you wanted it to be a private conversation, you would have emailed Tim directly instead of posting it here, so I think it can't be considered rude to add a comment...

Have you asked Elevate if they are willing to answer your questions for the same price range, in the same time frame?
I can't speak for them, of course, but if you have needs that don't fit in the announced support plan, you should consider asking Elevate for a customized support plan instead of posting here, where as you already know, the peers can't give you a timely or reliable answer.
<<

No problem.

I did email Tim, but his responses were delayed by several hours due to the mass emailing he was doing, so I wasn't aware that he had actually responded. I did actually suggest a custom support plan, but he hasn't taken me up on it.
Mon, Feb 25 2013 11:38 AMPermanent Link

Tim Young [Elevate Software]

Elevate Software, Inc.

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Email timyoung@elevatesoft.com

Arthur,

<< Just to clarify: what I meant by nickel and dime is that $20 for a ticket
is insignificant. Maybe it's different where you are but here steak and eggs
for breakfast is $20. So the idea that paying $20 for a support issue would
cause someone to reconsider phoning you and using the forum instead I
find...preposterous. It's like saying "I'll answer your support question for
the spare change in your pocket.". >>

Ahh, okay, now I understand what you meant.  We purposefully went low on the
per-session charge in order to see where things sort out.  If we find that
it's too low, we can always increase it as necessary.  In some of the
examples that we analyzed, we would be very happy simply recouping the
equivalent of $19 per session.  In some cases we lose, but in most cases we
cover our costs and then some, which makes up for the odd session that takes
an inordinate amount of time.  Ultimately, we just want to cover the costs,
and do so without getting into per-time charges, which are very hard to
track/account for.

Thanks,

Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com
Mon, Feb 25 2013 11:54 AMPermanent Link

Tim Young [Elevate Software]

Elevate Software, Inc.

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Email timyoung@elevatesoft.com

Jose,

<< So far so good, but I feel I am at a disadvantage here. I don't remember
ever contacting Support for a technical problem. Very rarely I come to the
forum, last time it was even to report bugs. I don't have plans to request
personalized support in the future, probably because my requirements are not
too complicated and at this stage I know enough to fix all problems myself.
All I want is to receive updates for bug fixes. For that part I still have
to pay $159.00 per year. And for that part the price appears a bit too high.
Probabaly, you can think about a support option for people like me, a small
base price and then if personalized assistance becomes required this would
have to be paid separately. >>

The existing support plan prices were supposed to cover both the cost of
ongoing development and the costs of support.  As we found out, the support
pricing was not priced appropriately and was split out.  However, that
doesn't mean that the development costs are now cheaper, but rather the
opposite - we will now be issuing *more* minor releases each year and we
still need to pay for these development costs.  This is why the pricing
stayed the same, even though the support costs were split out.  We haven't
done a major upgrade to our products since EDB 2.x  in 2008, and we need to
make sure that we have revenue to cover ongoing development.  In 2012, $159
would have purchased you 5 minor releases (these are all enhancements, and
in some cases, major enhancements), or ~$31 per minor release.

In summary, we think that we're providing the appropriate amount of value
(and then some) for the prices that we're charging.  If anything, we've been
under-charging customers for too long.

Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com
Mon, Feb 25 2013 11:58 AMPermanent Link

Tim Young [Elevate Software]

Elevate Software, Inc.

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Email timyoung@elevatesoft.com

Adam,

<< As a suggestion, maybe customers wishing to get those could tag their
emails as High Importance, or do something else that basically confirms that
they're happy to pay for support regardless of whether it's a newsgroup
question to get the answer ASAP. >>

Sam and I were discussing this very topic this morning in reference to
Arthur's suggestions.  I think I'm going to add a flag to the customer
records to indicate that a customer wants to bypass any "filtering" done at
the initial point of contact, and that this will be an option that customers
can request in order to make sure that they get responses as fast as
possible.  As always, we'll let everyone know the full scoop on how
everything works before the rollout on April 1st.

Thanks,

Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com
Tue, Feb 26 2013 8:15 AMPermanent Link

Jose Pascoa

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On Mon, 25 Feb 2013 11:54:07 -0500, "Tim Young [Elevate Software]"
<timyoung@elevatesoft.com> wrote:

>In summary, we think that we're providing the appropriate amount of value
>(and then some) for the prices that we're charging.  If anything, we've been
>under-charging customers for too long.

It is true that during 2012 we received a number of important updates,
namely related to 64-bit support for DBISam and ElevateDB.
Thank you!
Jose
Wed, Feb 27 2013 12:22 PMPermanent Link

Tim Young [Elevate Software]

Elevate Software, Inc.

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Email timyoung@elevatesoft.com

Jose,

<< It is true that during 2012 we received a number of important updates,
namely related to 64-bit support for DBISam and ElevateDB.  Thank you! >>

No need to thank me - that is what you're paying for. Smile

The goal is to increase the number and frequency of these releases so that
the products move along faster and you get even more money for your value.
It's been taking too long between builds and releases lately.

Thanks,

Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com


Sat, Mar 2 2013 6:42 PMPermanent Link

Peter Evans

On 24/02/2013 3:11 AM, Tim Young [Elevate Software] wrote:
> Beginning Monday, April 1, 2013, two major changes will be instituted at
> Elevate Software, and this email is to notify you in advance of these
> changes so that you can plan accordingly.

Currently there is a discount for 'ElevateDB Customers that also have an
active EDB product support plan'.

Will there continue to be such a discount?

Regards,
  Peter Evans
Sat, Mar 2 2013 6:45 PMPermanent Link

Peter Evans

On 24/02/2013 3:11 AM, Tim Young [Elevate Software] wrote:> Beginning
Monday, April 1, 2013, two major changes will be instituted at
> Elevate Software, and this email is to notify you in advance of these
> changes so that you can plan accordingly.

Currently there is a discount for 'ElevateDB Customers that also have an
active EDB product support plan'.

Will there continue to be such a discount?

Regards,
  Peter Evans
Mon, Mar 4 2013 6:57 AMPermanent Link

Matthew Jones

>  Ultimately, we just want to cover the costs,
> and do so without getting into per-time charges, which are very
> hard to track/account for.

Please make sure that you are making money from it. You need to be able to invest
in your products more, and that can be done by charging more. I like the idea of
various tiers for speed.

/Matthew Jones/
Tue, Mar 5 2013 4:39 PMPermanent Link

Tim Young [Elevate Software]

Elevate Software, Inc.

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Email timyoung@elevatesoft.com

Peter,

<< Currently there is a discount for 'ElevateDB Customers that also have an
active EDB product support plan'.

Will there continue to be such a discount? >>

Do you mean a discount for customers with both DBISAM and ElevateDB support
plans ?  If so, then yes, those discounts will still apply.

If you have any other questions, please let me know.

Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com
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