JBoss Enterprise Middleware, by Red Hat:

Technical Support Services Leader

JBoss Enterprise Middleware Customer Support Study

June 2010

STRATEGY :: EXECUTION :: SUCCESS

WEB: www.velocitipartners.com
EMAIL: [email protected]

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Introduction

Organizations of all sizes have dramatically lowered the cost of their application
environments with enterprise open source solutions such as the JBoss Enterprise
Application Platform. These enterprises and ISVs often chose JBoss Enterprise
Middleware because of its broad portfolio, price point, performance and scalability, and
flexibility. Not surprisingly, many customers have found professional support services can
magnify the benefits of the open source technology system. Expert support services can
provide faster problem resolution, innovative consultation, lower corporate risk, and more
individualized services.

Red Hat recognizes the importance of superior technical support services not only as a
competitive differentiator, but also as a means to dramatically reduce ongoing costs.
Unlike competitors, JBoss Enterprise Middleware, by Red Hat, views customer support as
a key strength and have become very widely utilized middleware software based on this
belief. To ensure that its technical support services continue to meet this objective, Red
Hat Inc. sponsored this study of their support customers and their perceptions. Survey
data clearly suggests that Red Hat’s customers recognize JBoss Enterprise Middleware
as the Technical Support Services leader among Java EE application server platforms.

Methodology

Red Hat customers having used Red Hat Technical Support Services since July 2009
were contacted via e-mail or telephone and asked to complete a survey about their
experience with the Red Hat support group and one other Java EE-based middleware
vendor they are most familiar with. The majority of respondents also had experience with
other middleware vendors’ technical support services. Respondents were asked to
subsequently rate Red Hat and a competing vendor on varying criteria.

310 Red Hat support users, a subset of the organization’s customer base, participated in
the study.

Participants were given a series of statements and asked to rank each by how much they
agreed or disagreed based on the following scale:

7. = Completely Agree
6. = Mostly Agree
5. = Somewhat Agree
4. = No Opinion
3. = Somewhat Disagree
2. = Mostly Disagree
1. = Completely Disagree

The following section discusses the aggregate rankings for each statement.

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Executive Summary

To assess Red Hat’s support offering for JBoss Enterprise Middleware against its
competitors, customers were asked to rate their level of agreement with a series of
statements. Red Hat’s exceptional performance in each category proves their continued
performance and ability to deliver world-class support.

• The Vendor understands the needs of my business.

• The Vendor consistently meets or exceeds my Service Level Agreements.
• The Vendor’s staff provides service in a professional and courteous manner.
• The Vendor held a knowledge transfer with my team.
• The Vendor’s support pricing is competitive.
• The Vendor provides excellent value for my support services investment.
• The Vendor’s support staff knows their products well.
• The Vendor’s support team’s knowledge extends beyond just their products.
• The Vendor’s support team is easy to reach through multiple channels.
• I can easily get access to key people at the Vendor organization.
• It is very likely that I would recommend the Vendor to others.

Understanding Needs

Meeting SLAs

Professional Service

Knowledge Transfer

Support Pricing

Support Value

Product Knowledge - Own

Product Knowledge - Other

Multi-Channel Access

Access to Key Staff

Customer Loyalty

3 4 5 6

Competitors (Combined)
JBoss Enterprise Middleware

The economic climate has led many public and private organizations to increasingly
consider open source software to reduce their IT portfolio TCO. While many open source
solutions offer an initial allure, long-term support and maintainability are often unknown
variables.

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 Velociti Partners, Inc. JBoss, by Red Hat: Technical Support Services Leader Page 4

Red Hat’s JBoss Enterprise Middleware client base recognizes its technical support
service excellence as a key competitive differentiator. Not only does Red Hat surpass
competing vendors, but it also received notably higher ratings in each categorization. Red
Hat’s consistent, remarkable performance is a testament to its ability to deliver a low TCO
through indirect cost mitigation.

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 Velociti Partners, Inc. JBoss, by Red Hat: Technical Support Services Leader Page 5

Survey Results

Understanding Needs
Technical support staff require a clear understanding of a customer’s IT environment,
system specifications, and project goals in order to provide superior service. Rapid recall
of these critical details helps in delivering a seamless, efficient support experience.
Common pitfalls of an out of touch technical support organization are one-size-fit-all
problem resolution and general mismanagement of customer expectations.

1. The Vendor understands the needs of my business.

5.28
5.01
5 4.75

3
JBoss Enterprise IBM WebSphere Oracle AS/WebLogic
Middleware

Meeting SLAs
SLAs are a critical success factor in a sustainable vendor/customer technical support
services relationship. However, customers can be shortchanged when vendors do not
meet minimum SLA standards, even when the vendor faces financial repercussion. When
comparing competitive SLAs, it is important to consider a vendor’s track record in meeting
or exceeding existing agreements and its overall enforcement policies.

2. The Vendor consistently meets or exceeds my service level agreements.

5.3
4.95
5 4.67

3
JBoss Enterprise IBM WebSphere Oracle AS/WebLogic
Middleware

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Professional Service
Competitive pressures have degraded the quality of vendor/customer interactions.
Leading organizations understand that professional service is not only fundamental to
acquiring and retaining customers but is also more cost efficient. Professional service
organizations consistently and unanimously uphold an exemplary service standard to
achieve customer loyalty.

3. The Vendor’s support staff provides service in a professional and courteous

manner.

6 5.59

5.1
5 4.75

3
JBoss Enterprise IBM WebSphere Oracle AS/WebLogic
Middleware

Knowledge Transfer
Each customer brings a unique set of requirements and goals to the relationship. While it
takes a small commitment up-front, a knowledge transfer pays significant dividends in the
long-term. Support and service organizations are better prepared to offer relevant
solutions and avoid mismanagement of expectations. Knowledge transfer sessions have
become critical in delivering superior customer support services.

4. The Vendor held a knowledge transfer with my team.

5.13
5 4.68 4.61

3
JBoss Enterprise IBM WebSphere Oracle AS/WebLogic
Middleware

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Support Pricing
Customers should not have to choose between a ‘quality’ and ‘low-price’ leader. An
investment in technical support services should yield a competitive Return On Investment
(ROI) by offering both competitive pricing and exceptional service. Superior technical
support organizations recognize the importance of this and strive to create packages with
compelling price-to-value ratios.

5. The Vendor’s support pricing is competitive.

5.25

5
4.47
4.22

3
JBoss Enterprise IBM WebSphere Oracle AS/WebLogic
Middleware

6. The Vendor provides excellent value for my support services investment.

5.12
5 4.68
4.36

3
JBoss Enterprise IBM WebSphere Oracle AS/WebLogic
Middleware

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Product Knowledge
Frontline technical support staff spends the majority of their time troubleshooting common
challenges. They are aware of ‘known’ technical issues and are armed with workarounds.
However, when tougher issues arise they refer to knowledge bases and documentation.
Beyond these resources technical support staff is often unable to diagnose deeper issues
and identify root causes. Savvy organizations sufficiently train their frontline support staff
to thoroughly understand the technology to address the most difficult problems without
escalation or extended turn-around times.

7. The Vendor’s support staff knows their product(s) well.

6 5.57

5.03 4.85
5

3
JBoss Enterprise IBM WebSphere Oracle AS/WebLogic
Middleware

8. The Vendor’s support team’s knowledge extends beyond just their product(s).

5.15

5 4.7
4.52

3
JBoss Enterprise IBM WebSphere Oracle AS/WebLogic
Middleware

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 Velociti Partners, Inc. JBoss, by Red Hat: Technical Support Services Leader Page 9

Multi-Channel Access
The ability to reach a technical support organization through multiple channels has
become a key criterion for many technology evaluators. But, it is also critical that inbound
inquiries are appropriately prioritized. Unfortunately, customers are often left to escalating
their own e-mail or web inquiries due to strained support teams and systems that relegate
non-phone queries to the lowest priority. This approach is counterproductive for the
vendor and customer alike.

9. The Vendor’s support team is easy to reach through multiple channels.

5.27
4.99
5 4.8

3
JBoss Enterprise IBM WebSphere Oracle AS/WebLogic
Middleware

Access to Key Staff

First tier support staff is generally well equipped to handle the vast majority of support
inquiries. However, there are instances where access to the right person at the right time
is needed to keep mission critical applications running. Downtime can have a significant
impact on the total cost of ownership and significantly damage vendor perception. A
trusted vendor escalates issues quickly to help ensure rapid problem resolution.

10. I can easily get access to key people at the Vendor.

4.94
5
4.7

4.3

3
JBoss Enterprise IBM WebSphere Oracle AS/WebLogic
Middleware

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Customer Loyalty
Customers often remain loyal to a vendor despite persistent challenges. After all,
migration can be costly, time consuming, and very risky. A more accurate assessment of
loyalty is the customer’s likelihood to recommend the vendors to colleagues and partners.
A high level of loyalty underscores continued product and service excellence.

11. It is very likely that I would recommend the Vendor to others.

6 5.55

4.89
5
4.51

3
JBoss Enterprise IBM WebSphere Oracle AS/WebLogic
Middleware

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 Velociti Partners, Inc. JBoss, by Red Hat: Technical Support Services Leader Page 11

Summary

Red Hat’s mission to provide expert technical support services as a differentiator for
JBoss Enterprise Middleware is clearly being acknowledged by its client base. This may
not come as a surprise since many know the success of the division is significantly
dependent on the value its customer support services bring. What may be surprising is
the comprehensive nature by which its service is unsurpassed. Once again, every
category that was evaluated resulted in Red Hat rating higher than the competition. More
importantly, Red Hat’s performance has yielded unprecedented customer loyalty as
evidenced by its favorable quantitative loyalty rating. Loyalty indexes remain one of the
most valuable tools in measuring overall satisfaction and predicting future growth. As
highlighted, Red Hat’s JBoss Enterprise Middleware future growth potential remains
extremely robust.

As organizations increasingly turn to open source software to lower their total cost of
ownership of IT, Red Hat meets their needs with a service organization dedicated to
delivering increased savings with faster, more accurate, and more valuable support
services. Based on the results of this study, it is our belief that JBoss Enterprise
Middleware subscription services from Red Hat should be seen as a strategic lever to
increase benefits and decrease costs. Objective evidence supporting Red Hat’s industry-
leading performance may also be compelling enough to encourage a reexamination of
current enterprise middleware investments and significantly impact current vendor
evaluation processes.

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About the Study Respondents

Velociti Partners randomly sampled 310 Red Hat Inc. Technical Support users. Only
users with recent experiences with Red Hat support services were asked to participate in
the study. Support users since June 2009 were invited to participate.

Architect/Development
Manager
Business Executive

Sales/Marketing
31% 32%
CIO, CTO, or IT Executive

Consultant

Developer
1%
6%
1% Other
3%
14% 5%
7%
IT Operations

System Administrator/IT
Support

The following is a breakdown of the Java EE-based middleware that participants had
experience with:
• JBoss Enterprise Middleware – 310
• IBM WebSphere – 89
• Oracle Application Server or Oracle WebLogic – 82

About Velociti Partners, Inc.

Velociti Partners is a boutique management consulting and strategic research

organization for technology enterprises. Based in Walnut Creek, CA, Velociti Partners
provides our clients with strategic services to aid growth, financial performance, and
overall success. Velociti principals and senior consultants each have several years of
operational experience with leading technology firms and start-up ventures and play active
roles in all client engagements. We are a group of tightly knit, talented individuals that
maintain a corporate culture of integrity, continual education, and achievement. Above all,
we are passionate about delivering results.

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Velociti Partners, Inc.

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Walnut Creek, CA 94598

Telephone: +1-866-952-9995
Web: www.velocitipartners.com
Email: [email protected]


This document is provided for informational purposes only and the information herein is subject to change
without notice. Please report any errors to Velociti Partners, Inc. Velociti Partners does not provide any
warranties covering and specifically disclaims any liability in connection with this document.

Velociti Partners and the Velociti Partners logo are trademarks of Velociti Partners, Inc. JBoss is a
registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc. IBM and WebSphere are registered trademarks of IBM Corporation.
Oracle, Oracle WebLogic, Oracle Application Server, and Java EE are registered trademarks of Oracle
Corporation or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks herein are property of their
respective owners.

Copyright © 2010 Velociti Partners, Inc. All rights reserved