If GM’s new “BOOK by Cadillac” Subscription Service was priced like Microsoft Dynamics 365
After hearing of General Motors Company’s foray into the subscription sales model for its Cadillac luxury vehicle brand, I recalled the “If Microsoft built Cars” internet joke that my Father, a successful GM car dealer (retired now), showed me nearly 20 years ago. It listed, among other things, that “for no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day” and “every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car” (Here is the full version, noting that GM never actually made any official detailed response to what Bill Gates was referring to back in 1997).
So, naturally I was curious to see what GM’s pricing model and terms and conditions would look like for their new service. Not just because I am a big GM fan and former Cadillac owner, but also because my specialty in IT is within the SMB/midsize ERP market. Oracle and Microsoft, especially, are aggressively marketing their subscription-based cloud ERP products, both claiming quick ROIs, lower TCOs, agility, flexibility, etc., much of which is true. But when it comes to simplicity in pricing I would suggest they both take a page from GM.
You only have to look back to last September when Dynamics 365 pricing was leaked by a small MS VAR ahead of the formal rollout. Microsoft’s response? They sent a “deep-dive pricing presentation” PowerPoint deck consisting of a walloping 173 slides to attempt to explain their new pricing model. It only added to more confusion and more questions, many of which, are still unanswered five months later.
GM’s luxury pricing and terms and conditions can be summed up in a few sentences… Pricing includes a one-time registration fee of $500 USD and a month-to-month subscription fee of $1,500 (no long term commitment, cancel at any time). Included is registration, maintenance, insurance ($750 deductible), OnStar (and Roadside Assistance), 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotspot, Sirius XM radio, unlimited mileage and the ability to exchange for a different brand of Cadillac up to 18 times in a year. That’s it, you just pay for gas! Of course there are other restrictions like no smoking and pets must be crated, but its very straight forward. It's not cheap but, just like with Cloud Enterprise ERP, it will be a value-added service to a select niche in the marketplace.
GM is rolling out this new service starting with the New York area first but you can bet other metropolitan areas will follow soon. And GM has already started a pilot project in Kitchener, Canada for their car-sharing service, Maven, so they are likely ready to roll out Book by Cadillac in Canada soon.
Thank goodness GM didn’t follow Microsoft’s lead, at least wrt MS Dynamics 365 pricing, or you might have seen something like this ... Pricing would be based on the number of named users (different pricing, of course, for drivers and passengers) and the total number of family members. If discounted from the list price there would be a minimum 2 year commitment. Accessories would be included in that you would have access to them but they would be priced in addition and that pricing would likely be based on multiple factors (maybe mileage, number of channels on XM, peak and off-peak usage of OnStar, etc.). And forget about trying to figure out ahead of time the budget for overall TCO of family road trips or even attempting the process of switching vehicles!
Don’t get me wrong, the MS Dynamics 365 product(s) are powerful when implemented properly and that includes plenty of discovery and design up front. We are silver and gold partners for Microsoft, Oracle and Acumatica. But, with the exception of Acumatica, and, to some extent, Oracle, pricing is anything but simple when considering moving your ERP to the Cloud. So, while you are waiting for answers, maybe go for a drive in your Cadillac of choice!
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