IBM Workplace: the purchase experience so far

I’ve decided that it would be a good idea for me to learn more about Workplace, if only so I have a better understanding of what it is and does. When customers ask me whether a solution is appropriate, I can’t give a good answer if I don’t have that knowledge. Accordingly, I decided to set up a sandbox and play; the new “Workplace” category here on the blog will contain sporadic reports of what I find and learn along the way. My experience so far has been pretty poor.

Problem #1: IBM doesn’t offer evaluation versions. Microsoft, of course, freely distributes 120-day trials of Windows, Exchange, SQL Server, and so on; heck, even Oracle (motto: Worst Messaging Software Ever!) has trial versions of OCS. So, that meant I had to buy the licenses.

Problem #2: to buy IBM, you must call IBM. Well, not quite, but close. If I wanted a retail copy of Exchange, I could just go order it from any number of online resellers, or I could contact a local partner, or I could buy it right from MS. Workplace isn’t like that. I started by calling four IBM business partners listed in this directory. I called all of them the day before Thanksgiving, leaving a detailed message explaining what I wanted. I got two return calls within two weeks, both of which wanted to know how many licenses of Domino I wanted. After I explained, both promised to get back to me within a day or two; neither did. So, I used the “call me” button on IBM’s site and got a call the next day from a gentleman who wanted to explain why Workplace was the best thing since toothpaste in a tube. Once he understood that all I wanted was to buy it, he promised to connect me with a sales rep. Two weeks later, and after an email to a rep who had previously sent me a price quote for other software, I got a call.

Problem #3: get it in writing. The rep quoted me a per-CAL price for Workplace Messaging ($14.50, 50% off the normal price), Workplace Documents, and Workplace Team Collaboration (I don’t remember their license costs offhand). She also quoted me a price of $24/seat for Workplace Rich Client. This was a substantial discount off the $129/seat list price, so I was excited… right up until my rep emailed me, after I’d already bought the server licenses, to say that her pricer had “denied” that special price and that I’d have to pay list. Oh well. The rep made an honest mistake, and these things happen in all kinds of sales environments (well, except for airlines, where intentionally deceptive pricing is a way of life.. but I digress).

Problem #4: your Passport is no good here. When you buy Workplace, you automatically get (or pay for, depending on how you look at it) 12 months of support. You access this support, and download the bits you’ve paid for, via the IBM Passport Advantage web site. This is a nice touch; MS only offers downloads for volume license customers. Unfortunately, when I logged in to the site, it showed that I had purchased a total of 0 licenses, so I couldn’t actually download anything. “No problem,” I thought. “I’ll just call the handy 24-7 Passport support line“. After 20 minutes on the phone (9am Saturday morning, mind you), the phone rep was unable to locate my licenses. He promised to call me back in “15 or 20 minutes.” Apparently time is measured differently in his local region, ’cause I’m still waiting.

So, I can’t talk about any other aspects of Workplace because I can’t install it yet. On the other hand, IBM offered to accept a net-30 purchase order, so at least they don’t actually have my money yet. Stay tuned for further developments.

Update: after a lengthy call on Monday to Passport support, we discovered that there were no licenses actually attached to my account yet because the order hadn’t been generated. Apparently there is some double-secret approval process that has to take place before I get the bits but after I get the message saying “you’ve got bits”.

Update: two interesting things happened today. First, this post made Network World; second, the Passport support folks called me back to tell me that my account was fixed. I am now downloading the first of the 31 components that the site seems to think I need to install Workplace Messaging. No connection is implied, since the support tech I spoke with yesterday was very helpful and courteous, and would have undoubtedly have solved the problem anyway.