by John Mark V. Tuazon
Computerworld Philippines
August 26, 2010

Seems like every software firm is up on their toes finding their own ways to the cloud these days. Lawson Software is not one to be left behind, as the company recently introduced its cloud service with a unique payment scheme which lets users choose the subscription model they wish to pay for.

With the scheme, users wanting to deploy a certain Lawson software are given three choices: purchase the software and host it on a cloud infrastructure; lease the software using a SaaS model; or lease the software for a while then convert to a purchase eventually.

“We want to offer customers a choice, but without shortchanging them in terms of benefits,” assured Harry Debes, president and CEO, Lawson Software, during a recent visit to Manila.

Debes said they see the point that the cloud has real long-term value to organizations, but the company doesn’t want to just copy what others are doing. “Instead of using a downsized version of the application, or a one-size-fits-all model which you can’t modify, why not give customers a choice?” he quipped.

Debes added that offering such a cloud service is not a question of financials, “but which actually makes more sense to each company.”

Among various cloud services, Lawson announced recently the second part of its Lawson Cloud Services offering, which will be dubbed Lawson Internal Cloud Services. The service will include Lawson Grid Technology, which will allow user to distribute computing tasks across several computers.

Lawons’s internal cloud offering will come in pre-assembled appliances, which house the database, the operating system, and the software application “so the arduous traditional process of manually installing software is no longer needed,” the company added.

Initially, two software bundles are available to users: Lawson Smart Office and Lawson Enterprise Search.

Alternatively, Lawson is also offering its popular ERP software hosted on Amazon’s Web Services Infrastructure, through an offering known as Lawson External Cloud Services.

The offering will also feature Lawson Test Drive, which gives users the opportunity to test the product in a “try and buy” model, which will last for 14 days.

“Lawson External Cloud Services can help make the customer’s total ERP experience simpler, faster and better,” said Jeff Comport, senior vice president of product management, Lawson.

A subscription pricing option is also available for customers who choose to run new Lawson products available through Lawson External Cloud Services offerings on AWS. Lawson’s flexible subscription also allows the customer to convert the subscription license to a perpetual license at the end of the subscription contract, it added.

Possibly Related Posts:

• 5 Tips for Social Business Adoption: How SAS Succeeded
• AMD aims for better graphics in casinos, hospitals with new chips
• EMC acquires Syncplicity for cloud file management
• Chrome trumps IE as world’s top browser
• Avaya lays out roadmap for unified software management

 Print This Post