Group Benefits of SA Licenses:
One for All and All for One
When it comes to the bottom line, it’s always nice to see the value you’re getting from your vendors. And in this economy, it’d be even better to prove that company investments are wellspent. One of the ways to do that is to investigate a group license for SpatialAnalyzer® (SA), the industry leader in metrology software. Because budgets are due now for purchases planned in the future, it makes sense to look at expenditures in the long term. And don’t forget maintenance and upgrades, which can sneak up if you forget to calculate them in your initial budget. One easy way to take the long range view for your portable metrology needs is the Group License Program from New River Kinematics (NRK).Group Benefits of SA Licenses: One for All and All for One
When it comes to the bottom line, it’s always nice to see the value you’re getting from your vendors. And in this economy, it’d be even better to prove that company investments are wellspent. One of the ways to do that is to investigate a group license for SpatialAnalyzer® (SA), the industry leader in metrology software.
Because budgets are due now for purchases planned in the future, it makes sense to look at expenditures in the long term. And don’t forget maintenance and upgrades, which can sneak up if you forget to calculate them in your initial budget. One easy way to take the long range view for your portable metrology needs is the Group License Program from New River Kinematics (NRK).
Don Savoie, Western Region Sales Manager for NRK, often has to lay out the plan in two or three year increments using a Group Investment Analysis. That’s a comparison of current cost versus new planned purchases and/or upgrades of SA functionality. “The three primary costs compared are maintenance, new license purchases and upgrades to an existing SA license and we customize the numbers comparison for our clients. The driving factors are the current number of SA licenses, cost of maintenance and an understanding of a customer’s requirements over the next few years,” he said.
The immediate benefit of acquiring a group license is that all current SA licenses then fall under one annual agreement, in effect, extending the maintenance agreement. The future benefit would be that annual maintenance costs will be at the reduced SA group pricing, which could be as much as 30% - 40% savings, according to Savoie.
NRK is known for its customer service, and regularly trains operators at their headquarters, as well as on-site for many of its clients. One advantage with a Group License is that clients can bundle discounted annual training programs with their annual maintenance agreement. This can help clear potential budget hurdles in seeking separate funding for routine training.
Continuous education is important and helps to maintain productivity at its peak performance. To support this, free on-site annual update meetings are offered to group license customers. When NRK publishes a new version of SA, these releases are available to all customers covered under the annual maintenance program. An update meeting helps group customers to derive maximum return on their investment in SA. The meetings cover a variety of topics, including a review of new SA functionality, Q&A for customer specific areas of interest, and how to techniques.
When looking for ways to get the most for your money, eliminating budget lines is always a bonus. “With a Group License, a customer could add the cost of a week or two of training at a discount to their annual maintenance agreements,” Savoie said.
And as business grows, a company under the Group License agreement has the ability to save even more — they can purchase additional licenses or upgrades at significant savings. Planning for growth is an important step for the overall bottom line, and so is standardization, another goal that SA helps its clients to achieve.
The Group License Program helps standardize SA as the metrology solution for all portable measurement technologies. SA makes it easy for users to build, inspect, and reverse design parts and tools because it provides a simple common interface for each of the technologies. “Once a user can run a job with a Leica tracker they can also run the job with a FARO, API or even a Metris Laser Radar. This capability enables measurement groups to share equipment and therefore choose the combination of measurement technologies that best fits the measurement job - without having to retrain operators,” said Savoie. And as anyone in manufacturing knows, standardization saves on all fronts: labor, software investment, training, information analysis and distribution.
Jeff Watkins, Dimensional Control Manager for Northrop Grumman has seen benefits from the group license program. “As a group license holder for nine years, we’ve derived many benefits from SA. We have saved a substantial amount of money on new license additions and annual maintenance. In addition, the group license afforded us the ability to adopt SA as our standard metrology software for portable measurement instruments and analysis,” he said. He added that SA’s capabilities and common interface greatly improves productivity and minimizes the training requirements when adding new measurement technology and personnel.
Clearly, there are financial and operational reasons to investigate the SA Group License Program. Are there any intangible features of the Group License agreement for clients?
Well, Savoie admits there are a few. “Because larger groups will be providing more feedback, they will inevitably have greater influence with their input on new product features and functionality,” he said. And this can be an even greater advantage if a client is looking for a customized solution. Within the industry, NRK is known for its responsive culture, and willingness to problem solve. So the more people using SA, the greater the potential that feedback will eliminate even the smallest of issues for their future.
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