I often get asked by both new and exiting customers to aid them in the cost justification process for purchasing Toad or upgrading their licenses. I thought since I get asked this so often, maybe a short blurb on the topic would be generally beneficial.

 

To write this blog, I’m using Microsoft Word. When I’m done, I’ll be emailing it to our Toad World site manager using Microsoft Outlook. Very few people would find either of these last two statements unusual, because we all need tools to do our jobs – and certain tools are simply no-brainers, such as Microsoft Office.

 

But why, there are cheaper alternatives. But the key assumptions are that everyone knows Microsoft Office and that regular use of this suite provides ample return on investment to justify the cost. Besides, an overwhelming majority of companies and governments have already standardized on this suite.

 

So we have established several important premises using this rather simple example:

It’s on all these issues that Toad really shines.

 

From day one, Toad’s basic mantra has been to make Oracle much easier to use for anyone doing most anything with Oracle (i.e. make people more productive). So for every Oracle user type: from business analysts, to SQL and PL/SQL developers, to database administrators, Toad vastly simplifies all tasks Oracle – thus making users infinitely more productive. And since people cost so much more than software, the tradeoff in just the productivity gains to initial cost are simply and easily justifiable.

 

But there’s more. Toad has a vast user base – some estimates at over a million users. Thus much like Microsoft Office, a vast pool of people exists who already know Toad. Go to popular job hunting web sites such as www.monster.com and search for Oracle literate people, and you’ll find that Toad is among one of the most popular Oracle skills listed. Thus indirect costs, such as hiring people and then training them, are lower with Toad than is typical. So Toad’s total cost of ownership is even further reduced, thereby further increasing the relative productivity gains.

 

What about the cost to switch? If cheaper software alternatives always meant equal functionality and identical interface, then there would be zero dynasties such as the Microsoft Office phenomenon. But we all inherently know that switching software packages of any kind almost invariably leads to some loss of function (i.e. lessened productivity) and some retraining. Since Toad pioneered the art of making Oracle easier to use and now has so many users, the indirect costs of switching should be a key factor in the decision making process. Remember, even hiring and training people costs more than most software packages – so the savings might be an illusion.

 

Finally, I’m going to go out on a limb here – and suggest that Quest offers several tools that fall into my no-brainer category. If I were to leave Quest and return to contract DBA work, I’d immediately purchase (even at my own expense) Quest’s brand new “Toad for Database Administrator’s Bundle”. It provides four totally indispensible tools at one very reasonable price – plus a whole lot more:

And in my opinion, the cost is more than justified by simply the first and last items – so I’m getting data modeling and benchmarking for free. Not to mention that each of these tools is best in class, easy to use, and well known.

 

I cannot think of a better answer to the cost justification question than this last couple of statements. Not only do I strongly recommend this bundle for all DBA’s, but I’d buy it myself even using my own money if I had to – because just the productivity gains alone would more than guarantee my professional and financial success. Because tools like this would permit me to shine, and thus increase my contract rate – so the cost is justified.