Re: Anti-Virus Change/Eval

[Charlie Prothero <Charlie.Prothero () KEYSTONE EDU>]

Mark,

 

I answered a similar post last year as follows:

 

I was in the same boat over the summer; with a 2-year deal we had done 2
years ago up for renewal.  The reseller that we used previously sent me
a quote, and it was high.  A sales rep from another company had been
after me for some time to look at their product, which seemed comparable
to what we had.  Naturally, there are switching costs on AV software
(staff time, risk of failure, etc), so I told him that the only way we
would consider going with him was if he could produce evidence of
substantial savings vs. renewing our current product.  In order to keep
things fair, I did not share any pricing information.  Pretty soon, I
had a quote in front of me with VERY attractive pricing.  I started our
PO paperwork process to do the deal, and then sent a courtesy note to
tell the other vendor that we would not be renewing.  Within minutes, I
received a phone call from the reseller, requesting that I not do
anything until their customer retention group had a chance to "verify"
the part numbers, pricing, and the level of discount that they could
offer.  As you might have guessed, they came back with a much better
proposal, and we stayed with them.

 

I don't like to go back and forth with vendors, preferring instead to
give everyone one chance to put their best offer on the table.  But, in
this case, our incumbent vendor did not know when they prepared their
first quote that there were competing proposals up for consideration.  

 

Bottom line/lessons learned:

*         The AV market is competitive; with little differentiation
between the top vendors (i.e. they all provide good protection without
much variation in price).

*         Your vendor does not want to lose your business, and will
likely offer very aggressive pricing if they know you're looking at
alternatives (Conversely, if they think you're in the bag, they won't
shrink their markup just to be nice).

*         All other things equal, the product you have installed today
and that your techs are familiar with is probably the best one for you.
Switching products is a lot of work, and will require significant staff
time.  Calculate this into any savings model you may be developing.

*         This is something that you should revisit periodically, but
not every year.  If you are satisfied with your current product and
decide to renew, take advantage of multi-year pricing deals (we did 3
years).  Multi-year deals with a new vendor may be harder to get
comfortable with.

*         If you change your AV provider, and then have an outbreak,
everyone will question whether it would have happened if you had kept
your existing solution.  So, make sure you have very compelling reasons
to make such a change!

 

That's all I can think of, for now.  Good luck!

 

- Charlie.

 

Charles Prothero

IT Director

Keystone College

La Plume, PA

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Wilson [mailto:wilsodm () AUBURN EDU] 
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 10:11 AM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
Subject: [SECURITY] Anti-Virus Change/Eval

 

We are considering changing AV packages.  Even though we are generally

satisfied with what we have, changing AV solutions would be a large

undertaking in terms of conversion, costs, learning curve, etc. 

However, we feel some "fiduciary responsibility" to at least explore the

possibility of changing AV solutions.

 

For those who have gone through (or may be considering the same)

changing AV packages for your school, I would be interested in hearing

your experience, the reasons you chose a particular AV solution ( or

decided to keep the current) , and the challenges involved.  I would

also be interested in your take on the matter if you decided to stick

with what you have or decided it was too large an undertaking.

 

Thank You,

 

 

Mark Wilson

GCIA, CISSP #53153

Network Security Specialist

Auburn University

(334) 844-9347