Charging crisis

A few years ago, printed magazines used to take precedence over my online reading, now it’s the other way round – which is one reason why I only just picked up on the lead article ‘Charging Crisis’ in Information Age magazine.

The crisis relates to traditional software licensing, which, the article suggests, is being challenged by the world of on-demand, agile computing, paid for according to demand. It quotes an AMR survey of IT executives suggesting on-demand licensing will move from its current 9% to 23%, which will have repercussions for traditional software vendors:

"… software sales must be accounted for differently, with repercussions for supplier cash flow and reported profits. It also means that the whole way in which software is sold will have to change – with big-account ‘elephant hunter’ sales staff most under threat."

I like the ‘elephant hunter’ analogy. It makes me wonder, though, how you would describe the sales staff in an ASP or ‘Software as a Service’ business? Any ideas?