NEWS RELEASE: RMG Consultants, Inc., 16 November 2010,
Chicago
"Reformation
of the Library Automation Industry: Software as a Service (SaaS)
Disrupts Traditional ILS Pricing Models"
is the topic of
RMG's
21st Annual Presidents' Seminar: The View from the
Top
Friday January 7, 2011, 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
ALA Midwinter Conference, San Diego
San Diego Convention Center - Room 08
Panelists, and participants – including ILS company
presidents and key industry players -- to be announced in
December
The topic of last year’s RMG Annual Presidents' Seminar at
the ALA Midwinter Conference in Boston was
"Forces of Change Sweep Across the Library Automation Landscape:
Business and Technology Partnerships, Foundation and Government
Funding, Non-profits versus For-profits."
Discussions among panelists and the audience addressed many of the
movements that are now playing out as the Reformation of the
Library Automation Industry, driven by Software as a Service
(SaaS):
• The ubiquitous delivery to libraries over the Internet of
information and services on a subscription basis:
e.g.,
•
E-content: e-databases, e-journals, e-books,
e-libraries
• Enriched
catalog content
• Discovery
Services (DS)
•
Integrated Library Systems as a service (ILSaaS)
• The growing and now commonplace acceptance by libraries of
ILSaaS
• Across-the-board lowering of libraries’ one-time and
recurring costs for implementation and operation of ILSs provided
as ILSaaS
• The promotion of the concept and term “Web-Scale
Services” by
• Serials
Solutions for Summon (Web-Scale Discovery
Service)
• OCLC for
WMS (Web-scale Management Services)
• The disaffection of some ILS customers with their
proprietary vendors and dissatisfaction with their legacy
systems
• The introduction and growth – and now commercialism
– of Open Source Library Systems
(OSLSs)
• The
success of for-profit companies that support libraries’
implementation and use of OSLSs, including delivery of
ILSaaS
•
Initiatives by non-profit library consortia, systems, and service
organizations to provide OSLSs to libraries
• Grant funds available to libraries for development and
adaptation of OSLSs
• The revival of ILS developments by large public
libraries:
• The
development of an ILS (based on Virtua from VTLS) and related
business initiative by Queens Library
• The
adaptation of an OSLS (Evergreen) for large public libraries by
King County Library System and its
partners
•
Columbus Metro’s re-investment in its long-ago custom-built
Discovery Place ILS
• The introduction of OCLC’s Web-scale Management
Services (WMS), with disruptive ILS industry pricing marketed as
game-changing low.
RMG's
2011 Presidents' Seminar will address expectations
for:
• Significant – perhaps explosive – growth in
delivery of ILS as a service (ILSaaS) on a subscription
basis
• With
lower vendor-related TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) components:
e.g., in 5-year totals of one-time and recurring maintenance
costs
• With
reduced library-related TCO components: e.g., lower HR requirements
and ILS expertise than on-premise systems; vendor takes
responsibility for ILS server infrastructure
• Downplay of differences in vendor prices between Open Source
and Proprietary ILSs delivered as services
• The reaffirmation of functionality, cost (vendor pricing and
library TCO), and vendor qualifications as primary criteria for
selecting an ILSaaS solution
• Increasing competition within the ILS industry among
for-profits and non-profits
• Increasing incentives for vendors to re-tool or replace
older systems constrained by legacy architectures, and to move to
Web-Scale platforms
• A surge – perhaps a break-out wave -- of
libraries’ pent-up replacements of superseded legacy
systems
•
Variously, in conjunction with other Web-based basic services:
e.g., for cataloging, Discovery, and
resource-sharing
• Including
the replacement of lower-cost microcomputer-based systems with
ILSaaS
• The de-emphasis of individual libraries’
implementations of OSLSs on their own, without outside assistance
and support.
Some
questions and topics for Panelists:
• Is ILSaaS a threat or opportunity for your company?
• Will your ILS company adapt to an SaaS business model? What
changes will be required? How and when?
• Will your contracts and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for
ILSaaS include response-time and other performance
warranties?
• Do you host your ILSaaS platform or use a cloud service to
provide infrastructure? Why?
• Will you move to a Web-Scale architecture and platform in
order to offer ILSaaS?
Registration for the seminar is not required.
To join our mailing list for updates on the venue, confirmed
panelists and future seminars, please email
rmg@rmgconsultants.com
RMG Consultants is an information technology consulting firm
specializing in team-based IT procurements (designed as enterprise
learning processes) and IT Strategic Planning for libraries and
Higher Education institutions.
RMG Consultants, Inc.
333 W. North Avenue, #396
Chicago IL 60610
312.321.0432 v
rmg@rmgconsultants.com
www.rmgconsultants.com
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