In case you did not know already, DotNetNuke Corporation has been offering professional Support services for the DotNetNuke platform since January of this year through our Subscription Program. We have definitely been encouraged with the level of interest in the program so far and appreciate the business provided by those organizations who have chosen to take advantage of the service.
However, one thing which I have been meaning to do for some time, is write a blog which clarifies certain aspects of the program, as I believe there are some incorrect assumptions which have been circulating in the community since its introduction. This obviously means that we have not done the best job in marketing the program to date, and rather than allowing the confusion to continue, let's take a moment to cover a few important details:
Yes, the Subscription program provides customers with technical support for DotNetNuke.
We are focussed on providing professional support services for organizations of all sizes. Support includes assistance with infrastructure, administration, extensibility, and development. Our pricing model currently includes two levels which are intended to address the needs of more serious business users who value a direct relationship with the owners of the platform.
Yes, we witness real world problems through the Subscription program.
Customers with thousands of portals, pages, users, files, etc... Extremely active sites with massive amounts of content. Performance issues. Hosting environment problems. Third party module conflicts. We see it all. And we often witness things which we would not have anticipated otherwise. The insight gained from public community channels has always been useful to us; however, we are finding the experience of dealing with real world environments to be invaluable in shaping the future of the DotNetNuke platform. Private installations offer incredible insight into the needs of serious organizations who are trying to push the limits of the software. The knowledge gained from these engagements help focus the product roadmap on those deficiencies and features which matter most.
Yes, we channel our findings back into the DotNetNuke platform.
As owners of the DotNetNuke web application framework, we are in a unique position to ensure that critical issues are resolved in the product itself. Rather than addressing the symptoms, we are often able to pinpoint the cause and solve it permanently so that all users of the platform can benefit. This is a much different model than that of other support providers, where the support knowledge is not openly shared and therefore can not be used to directly improve the quality of the platform. So in reality, by choosing to take advantage of our support services, you are not only reducing the risk to your business short term, but are investing in the future of the DotNetNuke platform.
Yes, I personally assist in delivering technical support services.
I am setting this straight because I believe there are some people who assume that we outsource this work to overseas resources ( like some Hosting companies do ). This is not the case. If you sign up with our Subscription program, you will actually be dealing directly with a DotNetNuke Corporation resource. There have been numerous occasions over the past 3 months where I have contacted Subscription customers via email or telephone, and there was complete disbelief that they were actually speaking to "Shaun Walker". I find the whole experience to be a little surreal, as before we dig into the details of their support incident, the customer generally thanks me repeatedly for providing them with such a powerful web application to run their business. I certainly appreciate the gratitude, but the reality is that I am only one of many people who have invested effort into the platform over the past 5 years to create the solution we have today. At the end of the day, its the serious users of the platform who matter most; so really, I should be the one expressing my gratitude. If this involves getting my hands dirty with difficult support issues, then I am more than willing to assist. And since I spent the first 5 years of my professional career developing and supporting enterprise business software ( ie. accounting and payroll systems ) I definitely understand the value in speaking directly to customers.
Yes, we plan on offering additional benefits to Subscription customers in the future.
We are learning as we go, and we continue to identify new items which business customers need to help ensure their success with the platform. The needs of various stakeholders are much different ( ie. Enterprise vs. SMB ) and we are constantly evaluating ways that we can service each group more effectively.
Yes, there will always continue to be a free, open source version of DotNetNuke.
The introduction of a professional support offering does not affect our commitment to the open source project. In fact, if anything, it complements it. Professional support allows us to allocate more resources to the product which results in more value, innovation, and quality as we move forward.
If your business depends on DotNetNuke, then your best option for professional support is to go directly to the source - choose DotNetNuke Corporation.