[Scalability...and the Marc Gomes Spreadsheet]MG published his view of the next 5 years in a spreadsheet.
He also commented that $200m is about the limit of IMP's operating capability to deliver as configured and eluded to 2 SDI's. His spreadsheet is quite linear.
I dont claim to know the details of the IMP solution but there seem to be 3 main parts:
- collect the data (planes doing the mapping)
- collate the data (the data engine)
- make the data available to the client (customize and integrate into customers system)
Development costs to date for IMPS solution seem to be in the $150m range (estimate)
How much of that cost was for the 'Engine'?
Seems to me, for each new customer, the moving parts include the collection of data and customization and integration into the customers system (data engine is a constant?).
So for SDI #2 (and beyond) its seems solution costs would be much lower...margins higher.
Now if subsequent customers used the same end-user system (SAP for example), then integration costs would also be lower for each new SAP customer...and since the customer value proposition dosent change (ie if the customer spends 150m then he expects X return on that nvestment)...the margins increase.
So then if a cash rich entity injected an additional 200M (say) into the operation today, how many new clients in operating bandwidth does that scale into... likely more than 2 additional SDI sized engagements (assuming concurrent delivery)...how much required and what are the limiting factors to get to 10 concurrent clients?
Thinking out loud...comments?