DrupalCon New Orleans 2016: Total value of ownership: Drupal 8 and beyond
Channel: Drupal Association
Date: 11/05/2016

Have you had difficulty justifying to clients the expense of upgrading Drupal?

Have you been in difficult conversations with existing clients or prospective clients defending Drupal’s cost?

Have you been unsure of how to speak to why Drupal is a good solution for a prospective client who’s not already on the platform?

Have you wanted to objectively compare other CMS solutions to ensure you’re consulting in an open and honest way that’s consistent with the values that the Drupal framework espouses? Spoiler alert: Drupal does very well ;)

What's the opposite of no?



If your answer is yes to any of the above, this session is for you!



The concept of total cost of ownership (TCO) has been around in the software industry for a long time, though seldomly discussed in-depth in the Drupal community. How much investment is required of an organization to build, improve and maintain a Drupal website is important to know. However, cost is only one side of the equation. The value an organization receives from the investment which factors in the benefits that the incurred-cost provides, ought to be the true focus in determining the worth of a software solution.



In this session, we will examine what value Drupal provides, and how it compares to other front-runners in the CMS market. We will discuss what it excels in, and what it doesn’t and how that has evolved to an increasingly valuable product in Drupal 8. We will showcase how to match Drupal's value with your client's needs and how to better to compare apples to apples in the CMS landscape.



This session will be interactive. Questions will be encouraged and elicited to engage audience.


Participants will leave the session armed with strategies on how to speak honestly, intelligently, and comparatively on the value that Drupal provides in the CMS market, and what we as a community need to do to continually uphold that value.

The session will be most valuable for those who are negotiating contracts for Drupal projects. The material pertains to independent contractors and larger Drupal agencies. Nearly anyone working in the Drupal industry will benefit from information on the CMS industry as a whole, so come one come all!​