With enterprise management packages such as Unicenter TNG costing up to US$25 million to set up, potential corporate customers need to know if they will get full value for their money.
One analyst group says 'no'. The Gartner Group estimates that 60 per cent of enterprise management packages are either not being used or had been abandoned by users three years after they are installed.
The US consultancy found 30 per cent of enterprise management packages were not fully installed after three years and said customers were experiencing a 'trough of disappointment'.
Computer Associates chief executive Charles Wang's reply is direct and scathing. Gartner Group 'doesn't know anything about our customers. They don't have any technical people, just a lot of marketing people who can write pretty words'.
Gartner still predicts that the global market for enterprise management software, currently $4.5 billion, will reach $10 billion by 2000.
