Spiceworks Community Digest: Drowning in fees
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly who first decided to move large one-time purchases to a monthly fee, but today, the subscription model defines the IT landscape. From productivity suites to cloud storage, recurring payments are the new norm. A recent discussion on the Spiceworks Community revealed that for IT professionals, the subscription model is great for business but can result in “subscription fatigue”.
The Good: Predictability and Peace of Mind
The biggest benefit, according to the community, is the financial predictability and reduced administrative overhead.
- EdT: “The bottom line is that corporations, especially the accountants and shareholders, like subscriptions. Why? Predictability. Subscriptions are a predictable, steady cash flow. That’s good for the bean counters.”
- Ode2joy: “When it comes to the corporate environment, I have mixed feelings. I was initially very resistant to subscription models, but now I actually prefer it for the packages that require and receive security and feature updates constantly. Gone are the days of me having to run around to however many devices to install the latest version of Office.”
- aJason: “One subscription I have found that has an interesting combination of the subscription/perpetual license models is from Tracker Software (now called PDF-XChange.) The software is bought with a perpetual license and never expires. It comes with a one-year maintenance subscription that allows you to update to the latest version for that following year.”
The Bad: Losing Control
Many members of the community showed bitterness toward the shift from owning a product to essentially renting its usage, especially when updates are minimal or non-existent.
- Random Parts: “I’m fine with a subscription to pay for updates and support. I don’t think you should pay a subscription to use the software. That should be one and done. I definitely don’t like the idea of if you miss a payment you can’t use the tool. I miss the idea of being able to purchase the software once and being able to use it for as long as you want.”
- Jonathan Johnson: “The problem I have with subscription SaaS is that you no longer own your data. When your data is in “the cloud” you end up married to the vendor; trying to switch to another vendor for the same service becomes all but impossible.”
- CAG16: “Cars with subscription models to use features like heated seats? So I pay $80k for a car and I have to pay monthly for the privilege to use the hardware that’s already built-in to the car? The only subscription I would consider for a car is Satellite Radio, and that is only because there are constant updates and fresh media to consume. How are they going to update a heated seat in a car? Why does this need to be a subscription??!?”
The subscription model is here to stay, but the debate over its fairness and necessity is clearly just heating up. What are you personally boycotting, and which subscriptions do you accept? Share your thoughts on the Spiceworks Community.
