Software License vs. Subscription Models – Is Subscription Right for You?

When considering nonprofit accounting software, the purchasing model adds another dimension to the decision process.  Which is the best fit for your nonprofit, NGO, or public sector agency?  Last week we discussed the license purchase model.

Another option you have is to move to the cloud by subscribing to the product.  Under this model, Serenic installs and maintains the software on servers belonging to a 3^rd-party provider under contract to our company.  Your data is stored on these servers in a solid-built facility, secured at multiple levels, including locks, video cameras, biometrics, and guards. At all times, our service provider is proactively monitoring the system for problems, with anti-virus technology, backup and disaster recovery, and data privacy protocols in place.

In addition to the relief from the IT requirements, your organization may prefer predictable monthly fees, as compared to a single, initial capital investment.

With Serenic Navigator, you will purchase named users – for example, if you have 20 users needing access to Navigator, each of these users will require a subscription. (If you’ll remember from last week’s article, under the License model you purchase concurrent users.)

To access the program, you will be provided with two implementation options, depending on certain functional requirements of your organization.  In both cases, you’ll install a low-profile application to your computer, or to multiple computers (e.g., office and home computers).

• Option 1, Application Virtualization Client (App-V) – Once App-V is installed, an icon is added to your computer’s desktop and you will open Serenic Navigator Online just as you access programs installed directly to your computer.  You will be able to import and export to your local installations of Word and Excel.
• Option 2, Citrix Receiver – Once the Citrix Receiver is installed, you will open a web site to log into the system and access Serenic Navigator Online.   You will also have access to Word and Excel from this interface.

Under the subscription model, Serenic is responsible for applying all upgrades as part of the service. To support this process, customizations are not allowed.

In our next article, we’ll look at some of the feature differences between the different Serenic Navigator offerings.