Bundling limits opportunity

For Indy Car drivers, at Laguna Seca it’s all downhill on its famous Corkscrew

It only seems fitting to pull a photo – doctored or otherwise – of a group of Indy Car drivers tackling Laguna Seca’s race track’s famous corkscrew. In a golf cart. Kind of reminds you that even in motor racing, for the major teams it may not be a good idea to be photographed with all “your eggs in one basket.” Imagine the outcome – real or fantasized – should the kart come to grief, disabling these stars from further participation in the upcoming race.

This photo is fitting as shortly we will be heading to Monterey for the annual NonStop Technical Boot Camp 2024 (TBC2024) Conference and while our individual transportation means may not be as primitive as hopping aboard a golf cart or having Andretti star Colton Herta behind the wheel, but all the same, this upcoming event will be yet one more time to hear all about what’s new with HPE NonStop, customer use cases, vendor deliverables along with the fun times such as golfing, visiting the Monterey Aquarium and do not forget NTI’s relaxing evening get togethers each night of the conference.

It is at this time of year that across the American heartland, attention turns to the life of the farmer. The summer growing season is in full swing, with the harvest just around the corner. For some it may have been a tough row to hoe to get to where there is a potential bumper harvest in stall. For others, perhaps it’s a case of having put the past behind them having overcome past adversities and now watching the chickens come home to roost. And yet, even as we reference such well-known adages, for the NonStop community perhaps the most relevant adage has become one of not putting all of the eggs in one basket.

A theme of NTI’s now for conferences and events in 2024, it draws attention to the negative side of bundling and the limitations it creates. The NonStop customer community did ask the NonStop sales team to consider bundling a number of products – solutions, middleware, utilities and more – into a single solution, offering supported by one invoice. While the intent of these NonStop customers is understandable, perhaps it’s not the best way to meet their true needs. History has highlighted how bundling of products not only has limitation but in reality has never truly delivered on its promise. Certainly, one invoice could be created but the best possible solution? Not so fast!

The insurance industry has been pursuing bundling for some time. Offering deals if you bundle your home, auto, RVs, boats and more, but when the fine print is examined in detail, there’s always one or two “laggards” that fail to fully protect the owner. For example, in some states, insurance companies are marginalizing compensation when much needed. You lost your boat in a tidal surge? Well, that’s a shame. The same approach to bundling has been common place in the auto industry. Just try buying a base car or perhaps, a fancy interior without having it part of a package that includes those high-priced fancy wheels as well.

The objective of providing the customer a better deal may translate to budgeting for a single invoice but in reality, when it comes to bundles that always are a mixed bag, to reference one more adage. For the NonStop customer, when it comes time to upgrade to the next and better NonStop system offering, facing the prospect of overturning years of product experience together with a long-standing vendor relationship may not be the answer that these NonStop customers envisioned.

“Why can’t you simply negotiate with our chosen vendor and consolidate your invoice to include their product?” Not possible – it’s just too hard to do. Translation? “There’s nothing in it for us and we are on commission!” Changing that model definitely falls under the heading of being a row too hard to hoe. More importantly, bundling obviates the need to perform due diligence and that’s never been a good practice. Ignoring due diligence of any product or feature can never be justified. For the NonStop vendor who remains independent, it is proving to be a difficult landscape to navigate and yet, it is in the best interest of the NonStop customer that they continue to do so – choice is still a major driver of innovation.

How so? Should the only choice come down to a few products then all future incentives to keep on investing in the product and insuring competitiveness declines. Why bother? We own the market? Surely, we can now entertain becoming a lifestyle company as after all, we no longer need a sales force or a product manager or even a business development representative. And yet, competition keeps a community healthy and for the NonStop vendor who does remain independent, sales opportunities arise everywhere they turn.

There are migration opportunities as existing products mature or when their support becomes questionable. There is also that age old adage that for any product / community, you will always find the disgruntled 8% who really do want to explore options. HPE sales does still retain an advantage as they are often the first to hear about such opportunities and more often than not, turn yet again to offering their creative bundles. But for NTI, such advantages can still be overcome and deliver “wins for DRNet®/Unified” as has happened this past year and a half.

Elsewhere in this issue of NonStop Insider, you will read of reference being made to a mantra, Save Time; Save Money; Save NonStop. Yes, it’s worth repeating as any good mantra deserves. “Any migration that can be completed well within the expected time of alternate offerings is time worth saving,” said Tim Dunne, NTI’s Global Director Worldwide Sales. “And saving time means saving money. Together these are major contributors to reducing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and any move to improve the TCO of NonStop will ultimately save NonStop.”

If NonStop customers are arguing for a bundling deal that comes with a single invoice have caught the attention of the NonStop sales team, “surely it is their similar cry for help in bringing down costs that is hard to ignore,” said Tim Dunne. “As the price of hardware continues to decline through standardization and becomes cost competitive, the price of software is witnessing an opposite and indeed accelerating trend that continues to this day; and this needs to be addressed.”

Two years ago, NTI’s contribution to lower TCO was to make data freshly created on the NonStop less expensive and readily available to all downstream business units by eliminating costly target system license and support fees, thus enabling Enterprise Data Distribution without additional cost to the business. DRNet®/Unified has become the best value priced Business Continuity offering by not only lowering traditional TCO but, when migrations are factored in, frees up real funds that can readily be applied to adding new applications to NonStop.

The future of NonStop is tied up with functionality and for more solutions to become available on NonStop, the price of supporting infrastructure, tools and utilities simply has to come down. To this end, NTI is fully embracing Save Time; Save Money; Save NonStop. If today, it’s all about Can’t Stop; Won’t Stop; NonStop! than surely, Save Time; Save Money; Save NonStop! is a direction albeit a challenge that will prove hard to ignore.

Having all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea. Likewise, putting our key drivers in the same kart is probably just as bad an idea. Of course, the key here is to diversify. To do due diligence just as it is all of our responsibilities to do all we can not just to save NonStop but to see it grow and for that to happen, a competitive landscape that helps drive down TCO needs to be painted. With your plans to attend TBC 2024 then maybe, just maybe, you need to spend more time with the NonStop vendors who can make this happen. As for NTI, as a Golden 50^th Anniversary Sponsor, the company will be attending in strength. We will be hard to miss!

Come join us at NonStop TBC 2024 in Monterey at our Presentations

NTI Embraces Resilience:
Fueled by Continuous Adaptation; Changing Economics of NonStop

This session documents the NTI journey from data replication through business continuity based on sound business resilience aimed at changing the economics of NonStop.

This has been a journey where the competitive landscape has shifted and where tectonic plate movement has elevated value, addressing the need for improved TCO.

Listen to how the DRNet®/Unified product portfolio makes modernization through migrations and refreshes that reduce TCO enabling NonStop to become more competitive.

DRNet®/Unified delivers:
Proven alternative to incumbent data replication product offerings

Experience gained in migrations from data replication products burdened with the legacy of being overpriced and under-supported are delivering choice. With no requirement for additional products or the need to learn yet another middleware offering, out-of-the-box migration with DRNet®/Unified delivers a better supported more cost-effective solution that continues to prove itself.

Listen to a Subject Matter Expert who, as a Prospect, now with NTI, orchestrated a migration in 2023 for a major European financial institution was completed in months and not years saving time and money as it has made a sizable contribution to bringing down the TCO of NonStop.

NTI has answers to questions that are likely to arise over just how inappropriate product bundling, with their limitations, might be for your enterprise. It might be time to take a good long look at the competitive Business Continuity landscape. As you look for help in such a pursuit then you don’t want to miss this opportunity to attend TBC2024 and allocate time to attend our presentations.

And you shouldn’t be hesitant in stopping by our table to hear more about the success of NTI with our DRNet® product portfolio. Yes, we Save Time; Save Money; Save NonStop!

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