Tower Systems, my software company (yes, this is a shameless plug), has put together a package offer for newsagents who are yet to install a computer system. This offer ties in with the new magazine distributor IT standards. By installing this package, newsagents will be able to replace manual processes with online magazine returns processing. They will also have point of sale software and a bunch of other facilities which are detailed in the marketing material.
An average newsagency should save at least $10,000 a year in time saved, mistakes eliminated, better quality business decisions by partnering with Tower Systems.
The $7,995 price includes: current standard brand-new hardware, point of sale and magazine management software, training in your newsagency, starter stock files, updates and support for a year, free access to follow-up group training and free access to at least 60 online training workshops over the next year. A chunk of the cost is eligible under the federal government’s 30% tax break – this expires June 30.
While I am biased, any comparison will show this to be a good-value package – especially given that it connects you with the Tower Newsagent community of 1,600 newsagents and given you access to the Tower Advantage TM. There are about 1,000 newsagents using any of six other newsagency software packages.
We have tried to make introducing technology in a newsagency as simple and painless as possible – hence the extensive after sales training options available for no extra cost. We have found it important that all staff are training including new staff. This is where our online training works very well.
We are a very small newsagent and I do agree the set up package is well priced.
The problem occurs 12ths later when Tower charges $1700 for updates and help desk functions.
We were duly informed that should we not take up the renewal we would be up for approx. $100 for first 15 minutes of any help desk call. This would make tower one of the most expensive per call help desk providers I have ever dealt with!
the support fee is well worth it, and the assistance is always very good. there is an option to pay it in instalments, this makes it much less painful. tower systems always does a great job, not just in what it sells and with ongoing support and continual improvement of its software, but in support of the newsagency channel as a whole.
Steve, I doubt your support charge would be that high, not on today’s prices and not if you pay on time and claim the settlement discount. The charge for a call from an unsupported user respects the many who do pay.
Support revenue is break even for Tower. Fees have beenr educed this year because more newsagents have installed Tower software.
Is there an annual licence fee? We already pay POS Solution this type of fee because, without it, our POS system becomes unusable.
Wendy, no annual licence fee. Support is optional.
What is the cost for an email response?
Sorry Mark
Missed your reply, This is what we were told very recently.
Steve we handle many simple questions free. The key issue is being compliant with Gotch, Network and NDD. To do this for the next few years you will need support. This is another reason we cut our support fees this year at Tower.
Mark, I’ve seen the word, “compliance” a lot here. Can you please clarify that term in the context of the magazine suppliers?
Thanks.
Y&G The short answer is that it means meeting magazine distributor and publisher IT requirements. For a longer answer Tower Systems has a compliance document which has been revised and will be released at th natioanl tour which commences in the first week of May.
Hi Mark
Just an update.
We were again offered the renewal just 2 days ago and it was $1600 less 10%.
We had a support issue and cannot fault the assistance we received but the quoted cost was $175 for the first 15 minutes and $50 per 15 minutes thereafter and you have to provide a credit card straight away! (I doubt $325 per hour or $1440 per year is break even considering the times we have called), I did some ringing around of local and interstate computer service companies and the unsupported rate for assistance ranged from 30 – 120 per hour.
As for compliance. If online returns are to be done by very small agents via the relevant company websites I cannot see a problem with that. If a magazine distributor changes a requirement for a return the website can still accommodate these changes seamlessly.
We are so small we only use tower as a cash register system and to manage our customer accounts. We do not need to be able to print out magazine labels or print run sheets as we are able to do this just a fast using already created spreadsheets etc. due to the low nature of our supplies and returns. We are only in a town of 500 odd!
This is where I believe Tower need a more flexible pricing structure with options for businesses who have staff with a broad understanding of computers etc and who have very different needs depending of their usage of the system.
It could be offered similar to Insurance companies where you have a lower or higher annual fee and within that you only get a certain number of free calls then you are charged.
I say this as We have called twice in 10 months. Thus the 1600 annual fee is clearly too expensive for us to consider. At $325 per hour the tower unsupported assistance fees also become too restrictive for very small mums and dad businesses. This our dilemma as for what we use the system for we do not see that as value for money as it was when the folks took the business on and had no idea what they were doing and needed to call a lot.
For medium to large businesses the $1600 represents fantastic value if you are ringing for assistance often.
I am not having a go at the tower staff or system as I find both to be fantastic but I am concerned that perhaps tower has less interest in retaining very small clients as their flat rate pricing policy would have me believe.
So you can see our dilemma :
Pay $1440 for the year.
or $325 per hour for support.
When we ring 3-4 Times a year.
Steve
Steve,
The fee you have been billed for this year is less than last year. My understanding is that Tower is the only company to reduce fees this year. We are also not the most expensive.
Given the number of newsagents switching to us this year, I anticipate that the support fee will reduce again next year.
How many suppliers to newsagents and associations have reduced annual fees and increased services?
Last month, we emailed and mailed you and other Tower Newsagents an offer to prepay and save an additional 5%. This was another way of saving money.
Support is not $325 an hour ana it is disappointing you say it is. We have a minimu call charge. This is to cover the costs of the call, billing and collection – newsagents are not known for paying on time. To compare our fee you need to look at specialist software.
We have considered a fee based on newsagency size. The challenge is how do you police this? If you have ideas which cannot be abused I’d welcome hearing them from you privately.
Newsagents with special circumstances are invited to make a case for cosnideration on the support fee. I then make a decision based on such representations. We have made this offer to Tower Newsagents by email and mail. You are welcome to take up that invitation.
The challenge with support fees is the cost of maintaining compliance software and providing the necessary training. 200 online training sessions and 130 face to face user meetings a year are expensive.
There is a cost to our infrastructure whether you call once or 50 times. This cannot be avoided.
Steve, come and spend a day with us. Sit in our help desk room. I am certain that such an experience would leave you agreeing that we spend support revenue wisely.
Steve you should try pos solutions. They charged me more than $3,400 a year. The year before, they charged me $2,100. When I got the 61% increase I complained and said I would not renew support. My software stopped working. Their support fee had been changed from a support fee to a yearly software access fee. They did this without telling me.
I switched to Tower and gladly pay the $1,500 a year support.
I am in a rural town with a population of 1,300 and consider the fee to be good value because I use my software for more than a cash register.
Mark recently helped me adjust magazine supplies and this resulted in freeing more than $6,000 cash in the business.
Hi Mark
Thanks for your response.
We’ll just agree to disagree on this one mate as I can see it would be impossible to offer every Newsagent an individualized support package and by doing that the costs to tower to police it, would eventually force up costs due to hassle of chasing agents.
Thanks
Steve
Hi Mark
Hit enter too soon!
I still do believe there is maybe some middle ground somewhere based on usage and that part of the policing is already in place as we were asked for our credit card details prior to proceeding with our support call, as such the help desk could tell straight away we were unsupported and relevant fees are paid then and there.
cheers
Steve
Steve, The challenge is that less than half support calls are made by the business owner.
Tower Systems goes to extraordinary lengths to accomodate newsagents and the varying support requirements. As I noted previously, we reduced support fees this year while increasing support coverage and free training.
Hi Mark
Points well made and taken.
As we are so small I never considered the issues of multiple staff calling from the 1 business.
An earlier post mentioned quarterly instalments, Is this an option?
Cheers
Steve
Steve, we pay our tower support on credit card with monthly payments. Works out easier for our cashflow then one hit per year.