IBM Lotus Symphony Savings Calculator

Lotus Symphony. Be free, work smart and find better ways to spend your IT budget.

The Lotus Symphony Savings Calculator can help you understand the potential savings your organization might see by switching all or just some of your users from Microsoft Office to Lotus Symphony -- the no charge alternative from IBM.

When using this calculator, please remember:
  • This calculator is not intended to be an all-inclusive assessment of a customer's costs and the potential savings of switching office productivity applications and should not be used as the sole justification of a decision to move to Lotus Symphony. To seek assistance for a more complete analysis and speak to an IBM representative, go HERE.
  • The calculator provides both a Simple and Advanced Mode. For a quick analysis, you can use the Simple Mode. For more detailed analysis or more customization of default values, choose Advanced Mode. You can decide to use Simple or Advanced Modes for each parameter. To choose between the modes, click on the toggle button provided in the upper right corner of each screen.
  • This calculator does not factor in any costs associated with Hardware as we consider those neutral between competitive products.
  • This calculator does not factor in any costs associated with packaging and deployment as we consider those neutral between competitive products.
  • This calculator assumes an organization will switch some percent of their employee population to Lotus Symphony and/or to the latest version of Microsoft Office.
Help Switch to Advanced Mode

User Community

Enter the number of users that will have an office productivity suite. Choose Advanced Mode if you want to be more detailed about the types of users and model growth.

Enter the number of users that will have an office productivity suite. Choose Simple Mode if you just want to enter the overall number of users.

It is important for us to gain some insight into your current environment. If using simple mode, enter the number of people in your company that we should consider in our calculations. If using Advanced Mode, you can break your users down into the three categories explained therein.

  Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Light Users
Knowledge Users
Special Users

Employee Categorization Explanation

While not intended to represent all types of employees, this calculator does provide three broad categories of users in an attempt to show the blended costs of training and supporting a rollout of Lotus Symphony.

  • Definition -- Light User
    Also referred to as a task worker. These employees typically have very basic office productivity needs. They mostly view and do light editing, fill out templates (i.e. status reports, timecards, fax cover sheets, form letters, etc.). They require little to no customization. Examples may include: Customer service, HR, field service personnel, tellers, and other supporting functions.
  • Definition -- Knowledge Worker
    Knowledge workers have more robust needs for documents, spreadsheets and presentations with stronger interoperability requirements as they need to collaborate with Microsoft Office users. They create original content. Examples may include: sales, marketing, branch managers, trainers, etc.
  • Definition -- Special Requirements Employees
    Also referred to as Power Users, these special requirements employees are typically very heavy Microsoft Excel users with signficant reliance upon 3rd party application integration, such as Essbase or Cognos and heavy reliance on Visual Basic Macros. Examples may include: finance department, drug trial / drug approval clinicians, statisticians, actuaries, technical writers, etc.
Help Switch to Advanced Mode

Labor Costs

Enter the approximate average cost per hour for an employee. Choose Advanced Mode if you wish to be more detailed and provide the average cost for each user categorization.

Enter the approximate average cost per hour for an employee. Choose Simple Mode if you wish to set a single value for all user types.

To use this calculator, you need to estimate Cost-per-Hour for employees.

In Simple Mode, the same rate per hour is assumed across the employee population.

In Advanced Mode, each category of employee can be assigned a different Cost-per-Hour.

The provided default amount of $30/hour is based on an average salary of $56,000/year for a 40 hour work week and 47 work weeks per year. Enter the amount(s) that are representative of your company's employee population.


  Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Cost per Hour - Light User
Cost Per Hour - Knowledge Users
Cost Per Hour - Special Users

Employee Categorization Explanation

While not intended to represent all types of employees, this calculator does provide three broad categories of users in an attempt to show the blended costs of training and supporting a rollout of Lotus Symphony.

  • Definition -- Light User
    Also referred to as a task worker. These employees typically have very basic office productivity needs. They mostly view and do light editing, fill out templates (i.e. status reports, timecards, fax cover sheets, form letters, etc.). They require little to no customization. Examples may include: Customer service, HR, field service personnel, tellers, and other supporting functions.
  • Definition -- Knowledge Worker
    Knowledge workers have more robust needs for documents, spreadsheets and presentations with stronger interoperability requirements as they need to collaborate with Microsoft Office users. They create original content. Examples may include: sales, marketing, branch managers, trainers, etc.
  • Definition -- Special Requirements Employees
    Also referred to as Power Users, these special requirements employees are typically very heavy Microsoft Excel users with signficant reliance upon 3rd party application integration, such as Essbase or Cognos and heavy reliance on Visual Basic Macros. Examples may include: finance department, drug trial / drug approval clinicians, statisticians, actuaries, technical writers, etc.
Help Switch to Advanced Mode

Incident Costs

Enter the approximate average cost support incident based on your company's experience. Choose Advanced Mode to allocate different support cost rates across each year.

Enter the approximate average cost support incident based on your company's experience. Choose Simple Mode to use a single value across all three years.

Incident costs represent the average cost per call, or incident, that is logged with the Help Desk. Enter the average for your organization. The default amount provided is based on an average that Lotus has seen from customers for similar software categories. Choose Advanced Mode if you wish to assign different amounts for different years, for example to reflect inflation.

  Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Cost per Help Desk Incident
Help Switch to Advanced Mode

Projected Deployment

Enter the expected percentage of users that will be switched to Lotus Symphony over a three year period if the latest version of Microsoft Office is not being considered for deployment.

Choose Advanced Mode for a more granular calculation on the rate and pace of switching to Lotus Symphony by user categorization and year. Advanced Mode will also allow you to configure the "Staying with Microsoft" scenario.

For Scenario 1 -- Switching to Lotus Symphony: Enter the expected percentage of users that will have switched to Lotus Symphony at the end of each year if the latest version of Microsoft Office is not being considered for deployment.

For Scenario 2 -- Moving to the latest version of Microsoft Office: Enter the expected percentage of users that will have upgraded to the latest version of Office if Lotus Symphony is not being considered for deployment.

Choose Simple Mode for a single deployment projection across all users.

This Calculator assumes three year deployment. Enter the percent of employees that have been deployed by the end of three years. Simple Mode assumes equal deployment by the end of year three across all three employee categories. Advanced Mode assigns unique deployment rates for each employee category.

This calculator assumes all users will either switch to Lotus Symphony or be moved to the latest version of Microsoft Office by the end of year three.

Symphony


over a 3 year period

Microsoft Office


over a 3 year period

Scenario 1 -- Switching to Symphony
  Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
% of Light Users on Symphony
% of Knowledge Users on Symphony
% of Special Users on Symphony
Scenario 2 -- Staying with Microsoft and Upgrading Office
  Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
% of Light Users Upgraded
(to latest MS Office version)
% of Knowledge Users Upgraded
(to latest MS Office version)
% of Special Users Upgraded
(to latest MS Office version)


Employee Categorization Explanation

While not intended to represent all types of employees, this calculator does provide three broad categories of users in an attempt to show the blended costs of training and supporting a rollout of Lotus Symphony.

  • Definition -- Light User
    Also referred to as a task worker. These employees typically have very basic office productivity needs. They mostly view and do light editing, fill out templates (i.e. status reports, timecards, fax cover sheets, form letters, etc.). They require little to no customization. Examples may include: Customer service, HR, field service personnel, tellers, and other supporting functions.
  • Definition -- Knowledge Worker
    Knowledge workers have more robust needs for documents, spreadsheets and presentations with stronger interoperability requirements as they need to collaborate with Microsoft Office users. They create original content. Examples may include: sales, marketing, branch managers, trainers, etc.
  • Definition -- Special Requirements Employees
    Also referred to as Power Users, these special requirements employees are typically very heavy Microsoft Excel users with signficant reliance upon 3rd party application integration, such as Essbase or Cognos and heavy reliance on Visual Basic Macros. Examples may include: finance department, drug trial / drug approval clinicians, statisticians, actuaries, technical writers, etc.

* This calculator assumes that all users will either switch to Lotus Symphony or be moved to the latest version of Microsoft Office by the end of year three.

Help Switch to Advanced Mode

Training Costs

Enter the number of hours you expect each user will spend at formal training (whether classroom or electronically/CBT) and away from their work. Choose Advanced Mode if you want to be more detailed and assign different amounts to different user types.

Enter the number of hours you expect each user will spend at formal training (whether classroom or electronically/CBT) and away from their work. Choose Simple Mode if you want to assign a standard duration across all user types.

Training costs are calculated by estimating the number of hours of formal training and employee will receive. Formal training may be classroom or CBT, but it represents time that they are away from their job. The default values provided are based on our experience with customers deploying the same or similar software. The default values for formal training between Switching to Lotus Symphony or the latest version of Microsoft Office are assumed to be the same, but can be modified. Simple Mode assigns the same amount of hours of training in each of the three years across the employee population. Advanced Mode assigns unique hours of training for each year for each employee category.

Symphony

Microsoft Office Upgraded Users

Symphony
  Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Training Hours - Light Users
Training Hours - Knowledge Users
Training Hours - Special Users
Microsoft Office
  Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Training Hours - Light Users
Training Hours - Knowledge Users
Training Hours - Special Users


Employee Categorization Explanation

While not intended to represent all types of employees, this calculator does provide three broad categories of users in an attempt to show the blended costs of training and supporting a rollout of Lotus Symphony.

  • Definition -- Light User
    Also referred to as a task worker. These employees typically have very basic office productivity needs. They mostly view and do light editing, fill out templates (i.e. status reports, timecards, fax cover sheets, form letters, etc.). They require little to no customization. Examples may include: Customer service, HR, field service personnel, tellers, and other supporting functions.
  • Definition -- Knowledge Worker
    Knowledge workers have more robust needs for documents, spreadsheets and presentations with stronger interoperability requirements as they need to collaborate with Microsoft Office users. They create original content. Examples may include: sales, marketing, branch managers, trainers, etc.
  • Definition -- Special Requirements Employees
    Also referred to as Power Users, these special requirements employees are typically very heavy Microsoft Excel users with signficant reliance upon 3rd party application integration, such as Essbase or Cognos and heavy reliance on Visual Basic Macros. Examples may include: finance department, drug trial / drug approval clinicians, statisticians, actuaries, technical writers, etc.
Help Switch to Advanced Mode

Skill Development

Enter the number of work hours per user that are expected to increase as a result of users transitioning to the new software and still acquiring skills. Choose Advanced Mode to assign specific hours of lost productivity to each user categorization.

Enter the number of work hours per user that are expected to increase as a result of users transitioning to the new software and still acquiring skills. Choose Simple Mode to use a single value for lost productivity across all user categories.

This factor is often referred to as lost productivity. The default values provided are based on average experiences of customers that have had equivalent or similar software deployments. Based on our experience, we found that moving from MS Office 2003 to the latest version of Office or to Lotus Symphony is relatively equivalent. In fact, many users have found Lotus Symphony interface to be closer to MS Office 2003 and thus easier. This holds especially true for Light/Task users. However, in an effort to be conservative, the default values of Lotus Symphony productivity costs are put in at 1.5 times that of moving from MS Office 2003 to the latest Microsoft Office version.

Symphony


(per user per year)

Microsoft Office


(per user per year)

Symphony
  Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Hours of Skill Development - Light Users
Hours of Skill Development - Knowledge Users
Hours of Skill Development - Special Users
Microsoft Office
  Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Hours of Skill Development - Light Users
Hours of Skill Development - Knowledge Users
Hours of Skill Development - Special Users


Employee Categorization Explanation

While not intended to represent all types of employees, this calculator does provide three broad categories of users in an attempt to show the blended costs of training and supporting a rollout of Lotus Symphony.

  • Definition -- Light User
    Also referred to as a task worker. These employees typically have very basic office productivity needs. They mostly view and do light editing, fill out templates (i.e. status reports, timecards, fax cover sheets, form letters, etc.). They require little to no customization. Examples may include: Customer service, HR, field service personnel, tellers, and other supporting functions.
  • Definition -- Knowledge Worker
    Knowledge workers have more robust needs for documents, spreadsheets and presentations with stronger interoperability requirements as they need to collaborate with Microsoft Office users. They create original content. Examples may include: sales, marketing, branch managers, trainers, etc.
  • Definition -- Special Requirements Employees
    Also referred to as Power Users, these special requirements employees are typically very heavy Microsoft Excel users with signficant reliance upon 3rd party application integration, such as Essbase or Cognos and heavy reliance on Visual Basic Macros. Examples may include: finance department, drug trial / drug approval clinicians, statisticians, actuaries, technical writers, etc.
Help Switch to Advanced Mode

Licensing Costs

Enter the software assurance costs per user, per year. Choose Advanced Mode if you wish to enter yearly licensing fees as well as software assurance fees for Microsoft Office.

Enter the licensing amounts per user by year. Choose Simple Mode if you wish to use a single value to only specify software assurance costs.

Licensing Costs for Lotus Symphony are $0 since it is offered at no charge from IBM -- either as a standalone web download or as part of a Lotus Notes, Lotus iNotes or Lotus Foundations purchase.

Simple Mode assigns a single value for new license and Software Assurance across all three years. Advanced Mode allows unique amounts to be assigned by New License or Software Assurance by year. For example, if a substantial growth in new users were expected in year 2 or 3, you might choose to use Advanced Mode.

In Advanced Mode, the default amount for Year 2 New License is for users added in the second year of the three year EA ($165*2.75), and the default amount for Year 3 New license is for users added in year three of the same three year EA ($165*2.25).

Symphony

Microsoft Office


per user per year

Symphony
  Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
New License
Software Assurance
Microsoft Office
  Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
New License
Software Assurance


All Microsoft Office Software Assurance and New License costs are provided based on Microsoft Office Professional 2007 with a three year Enterprise Agreement. These figures are based on the experiences reported by customers working with the IBM Project Liberate team.
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/info/reducecost/license_optimization.html

The default Microsoft licensing fee provided can be modified to reflect your organization's licensing structure. The default value provided for the Microsoft licensing fee is based on published pricing for Microsoft Office Professional 2007 available at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/suites/FX101754511033.aspx as of January 27, 2010. The default amount also reflects a typical discount for an Enterprise Agreement Schedule D of 30% on New License purchases and a Software Assurance price of 20% of the license fee for a three year period. For example, a typical new license for Microsoft Office Professional 2007 on Schedule D Enterprise Agreement might be $350 USD (30% discount off of published price of $499.95) and a typical Software Assurance fee for Microsoft Office Professional 2007 on Schedule D Enterprise Agreement of $70 per year per user for three years (20% of the $350 license price).

Customers should be informed that if their own pricing and cost profile are different then those used as a benchmark from Microsoft publicly available data, such actual pricing/costs should always be used to improve the accuracy of the results.

Help Switch to Advanced Mode

Support Costs

Enter the number of expected support incidents per 10 000 employees, based on your experience with past deployments of similar nature. Choose Advanced Mode to use specific values for each user category for increase in support incidents.

Enter number of expected support incidents per 10 000 employees, per user category based on your experience with past deployments of similar nature. Choose Simple Mode to use a single value across all user categories for increase in support incidents.

The default values were assigned based on IBM's experience in deployment of Lotus Symphony and work with other customers of Lotus Symphony and equivalent software.

Symphony


per 10K employees

Microsoft Office


per 10K employees

Symphony
  Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Number of Incidents - New Users
per 10K employees
Number of Incidents - Maintenance Users
per 10K employees
Microsoft Office
  Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Number of Incidents - New Users
(on latest MS Office Version)
per 10K employees
Number of Incidents - Software Assurance Users
(on latest MS Office Version)
per 10K employees
Number of Incidents - Software Assurance Users
(on MS Office 2003)
per 10K employees

Results

No help available.


  Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 3 Year Total OnGoing*
Staying with Microsoft
Switching to Symphony
$ Savings
% Savings

** All currency results are expressed in thousands (1000's) of US Dollars.
* Ongoing savings represents the net present value of costs/savings beyond year three by switching to Lotus Symphony

Use These Controls To Tune Your Results!

Changing these sliders will override your entries in the corresponding sections and use the new values in the overall calculations.

Microsoft Office Software Assurance Cost (per License)

Modifying this slider will change the Licensing Costs section.

Projected Deployment Percentage of Lotus Symphony
Modifying these sliders will change the percentage of deployment for the corresponding employee type over a three year period in the Projected Deployment section.
Light Users
Knowledge Users
Special Users
Estimated Costs (in Thousands of $USD) Over Time

Detailed Report Now Available

Click here to request a detailed report that explains the savings calculator's results.



If you any concerns please contact an IBM representative for further assistance.

No help available.