Thanks for the response Senoj. Just to clarify, are those...

Thanks for the response Senoj.

Just to clarify, are those figures for a finite period (eg, per year) or over the life of the software?

My understanding of business management software is most of that consulting revenue is focussed towards the implementation of the software. Which is no given for the software provider as they'd be competing with a variety of potential consultants for the work, for example amongst the bigger guys the big 4 professional service firms, accenture, CSC etc. Whereas the maintenance fees IRI charges would be an almost guarantee for IRI? Given the sales mix, would I be correct in assuming that these maintenance fees are a fairly small cost relative to the cost of the software?

I see TNE's consulting revenue as comparable to IRI's maintenance revenue in that it's additional work which comes about as a result of license sales. However, my point was not so much aimed towards maintenance/consulting revenue. I was highlighting that in addition to the one of license fee charged by TNE, they also charge an annual license fee. I would like to see IRI do something similar.

The point of the annual fee would not necessarily be to increase revenues, but rather to smooth earnings for company. As an investor I place a higher value on stocks with reliable, easy to forecast earnings because I'm less likely to be blindsided by a bad result. I am pretty sure I am not alone in this view. A more reliable revenue model could serve to increase the value of the company by improving the perceived quality/reliability of its earnings.