Company adjusts local pricing

Stellent Inc., a provider of content management software to the private and public sectors, has a launched a new pricing model targeted at cities and counties in response to their shrinking technology budgets.

The new annual software license is priced at 75 cents per resident and includes maintenance fees. So a city with 100,000 people would pay $75,000 a year, said Carrie Ellis, the company's director of vertical solutions. The minimum fee would be $30,000.

This is significantly lower than Stellent's previous tiered pricing model, she said. That was based on the number of contributors and content servers used. Under the old model, she said a municipality's cost would typically range from $150,000 to $200,000 in the first year. Annual license fees after that would cost 20 percent of the initial installation.

The new pricing model would allow municipalities an unlimited number of contributors and three content servers. It is not a promotional offering, she said, but intended to reflect the reality of the situation many local governments are facing.

"City and county governments are pressured from cuts in state funding and their own budgets, but we still see that as a key market to serve," she said. "The pricing model is intended to be an incentive and provide a lot of value for the price."

Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Stellent, which has more than 1,300 customers, including about 80 public-sector clients, is aiming its e-government product at cities and counties with populations between 25,000 and 200,000. Ellis said 93 percent of cities and 82 percent of counties fall into this population range. The new pricing model will not affect the company's existing customers.

Advantages of the company's content management software, she said, include ease of use, multiple contribution methods, role-based security and personalization capabilities, and Web-based as well as classroom training.