OPEXEngine


“This is our second year using OPEX.  It is a valuable benchmarking tool that I use with our Executive Team and the Board.”
CFO of participating private software company

“We saved far more than the $3500 it cost to buy OPEXEngine’s benchmarking report in aligning our expense ratios with comparable software companies.”
CEO of a participating private software company

“We’ve participated in OPEXEngine’s software benchmarking for 3 years now and use it extensively in management and board decision-making.”
CFO of a participating public software company


The 2009 Software Benchmarking Industry Report includes the following benchmarks:

INCOME STATEMENT AS A % OF TOTAL RECOGNIZED REVENUE

   OPERATING EXPENSE DETAIL

SAAS SPECIFIC METRICS

   Total Bookings

   RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT EXPENSES

     Contracted monthly recurring revenue (for subscription revenues) for December

   Total Deferred Revenue

     Total R&D Expenses (As a % of Total Recognized Revenue)

     Net New Monthly Revenue During December

 

     R&D Detail (As a % of Total R&D Expenses)

     Net New Customers for the Year

   Recognized Revenue:

     Compensation & Benefits Expense

     Cost per Customer to Acquire New Customer

     Product Revenue

     Consultants and Outsourced R&D Functions

     Cost per Customer to Maintain a Customer per Month (m)

     Service Revenue

     Travel & Entertainment

     Average Contract Value per Customer

       Total Recognized Revenue

     Software Development Tools

     Average Upsell in Dollar Value per Customer

 

     All Other R&D Expenses

     Customer Renewal Rate During Year (As a % of Customers Up for Renewal)

   Operating Expenses:

       Total R&D Expenses

     Dollar Renewal Rate During Year (As a % of Total $ Value Up for Renewal)

     Cost of Products

 

 

     Cost of Services

   SALES EXPENSES

   CUSTOMER INFORMATION

       Total Cost of Revenue

     Total Sales Expenses (As a % of Total Recognized Revenue)

   Number of Individual Companies as Customers (m)

     Research & Development

     Sales Detail (As a % of Total Sales Expenses)

   Number of Active Customers

     Sales

     Fixed Compensation Expense

   New Customers as a % of Active Customers

     Marketing

     Variable Compensation Expense

   Average Term of Customer Contract (in Months)…excluding perpetual contracts

     General & Administrative

     Total Benefits Expense

   Average Customer's Total Lifetime Revenue

       Total Operating Expenses

       Total Compensation & Benefits Expense

   Recognized Revenue per Customer

 

     Travel & Entertainment

   Operating Expense per Customer

   Operating Income

     All Other Sales Expenses

 

 

       Total Sales Expenses

MARKET INFORMATION

   Net Income Before Taxes

MARKETING EXPENSES

   Percent of Total Revenue from the Following Customer Types:

 

  Total Marketing Expenses (As a % of Total Recognized Revenue)  

     Direct Sales

 

     Marketing Detail (As a % of Total Marketing Expenses)

     Resellers/Distributors

     Total Maintenance Revenue as a % of Total Service Revenue

     Compensation & Benefits

     OEM/ISVs

     Overall Gross Margin Percentage

     Travel & Entertainment

     Other

     Gross Margin Percent on Product Sales

     Events, Trade Shows, and Seminars

   Percent of Total Customers in the Following Markets:

     Gross Margin Percent on Services

     Consulting, Outsourced P.R., and Agencies

     Financial Services

     Total revenue from direct sales as a % of Total Recognized Revenue

     Web Spending - (website, internet marketing, search optimization)

     Telecommunications

     Total revenue from indirect sales as a % of Total Recognized Revenue 

     Lead Generation

     Retail/Consumer Packaged Goods

     EBITDA as a % of Total Recognized Revenue

     Non-Web-Based Advertising

     Travel/Tourism

     Net Cash from Operations

     All Other Marketing Expenses

     Media & Entertainment

     Net Cash from Operations as a % of Total Recognized Revenue

       Total Marketing Expenses

     Government

 

 

     Academic Institutions and Non Profits

   KEY INCOME STATEMENT ITEMS BY GEOGRAPHIC AREA

   SERVICES EXPENSES

     Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals

 

 

     Heavy Manufacturing

   Recognized Revenue by Geographic Region (As a % of Total Recognized Revenue)

     Total Services Expenses (As a % of Total Recognized Revenue) (a)

     High Tech

     Americas

 

     Chemicals and Raw Materials

     EMEA

     Services Detail (As a % of Total Services Expenses)

     Other

     Asia Pacific

     Compensation & Benefits

       Total  

       Total

       Professional Services Personnel Compensation & Benefits Expense

 

 

       Customer Support Personnel Compensation & Benefits Expense

SALES MANAGEMENT

   AMERICAS

       Customer Training & Education Personnel Compensation & Benefits Expense

   Average Deal Size

 

       All Other Services Personnel Compensation & Benefits Expense

   Average Sales Cycle (months)

     Americas Operating Expenses (As a % of Americas Recognized Revenue)

         Total Compensation & Benefits Expense

   Average Sales Quota 

     Americas Operating Profit (As a % of Americas Recognized Revenue)

     Travel & Entertainment (non-billable)

   Average Sales Quota for Renewals or Existing Customers if separate from new business

 

     Customer Support

   Percentage of bookings attributed to the following:

   EMEA

     All Other Services Expenses

     Inside or Telesales

 

       Total Services Expenses

     Outside Sales

     EMEA Operating Expenses (As a % of EMEA Recognized Revenue)

 

     Channel and Partner Sales

     EMEA Operating Profit (As a % of EMEA Recognized Revenue)

   GENERAL & ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES

SUPPORT CENTER

 

 

   Ratio of Customers to Support Representatives

   Asia Pacific

     Total G&A Expenses (As a % of Total Recognized Revenue)

   Percent of Overall Revenues Allocated to Technical Support Organizations

 

 

   Number of Customer Support Incidents Registered During Year

     Asia Pacific Operating Expenses (As a % of Asia Pacific Recognized Revenue)

     G&A Detail (As a % of Total G&A Expenses)

   Number of Customers who Registered Customer Support Incidents During Year

     Asia Pacific Operating Profit (As a % of Asia Pacific Recognized Revenue)

     Compensation & Benefits

   Percent of Support Center Incidents that are Outsourced

 

     Travel & Entertainment

Percentage of Companies that Offer Standard Customer Support

 EMPLOYEE STATISTICS

     Depreciation and Amortization

   If Provided, Percentage of List Price Charged for Standard Customer Support

   Total Employees (FTEs) By Geographic Area (As a % of All FTEs)

     IT Expenses (including communication and email expenses)

Percentage of Companies that Offer 24/7 Customer Support

     Americas

     Facilities Expenses

     If Provided, Percentage of List Price Charged for 24/7 Customer Support

     EMEA

     Legal Expenses

 

     Asia Pacific

     Consulting Expenses

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

       Total

     All Other G&A Expenses

   Percentage of Outsourced R&D Expense for companies that have outsourced in past 3 years::

   Employees (FTEs) By Department and Geographic Area

       Total G&A Expenses

     Current Year

AMERICAS

 

     Three Years Ago

     Median Number of Employees  

COMPANY-WIDE EXPENSES

   Outsourced R&D Functions:

Employees by Department (As a % of Americas Employees)

Total Company Compensation and Benefits (as a % of Total Recognized Revenue)

     Requirements Definition

     R&D Employees

     Total Company Travel and Entertainment (As a % of Total Recognized Revenue)

     Design

     Sales Employees

  Total IT Expenses - Including Communications and Email (As a % of Total Recognized Revenue)

     Development/Coding

     Marketing Employees

Total Facilities Expense (As a % of Total Recognized Revenue)

     Integration

     Services Employees

          Total Legal Expense (As a % of Total Recognized Revenue)

     Documentation

     G&A Employees

Total Audit Expense (As a % of Total Recognized Revenue)

     Testing

       Total

 PRODUCT AND PRICING

     Implementation

   EMEA

   Percent of Total Product Revenue From:

     Other

     Median Number of Employees

     Perpetual/On-Site

     Do Not Outsource R&D Functions

     Employees by Department (As a % of EMEA Employees)

     On-Demand or Subscription

 Percent of Companies that Capitalizes Cost of Software Development, When Possible   

     R&D Employees

   Percent of Total Product Revenue From the Following Pricing Structures:

   Percent of Product Mix Based On:

     Sales Employees

     User-based or Seat-based Pricing (concurrent, individual, or active users)

     Client/Server Architecture

     Marketing Employees

     Server/workstation CPU-based Pricing

     Internet Browser-based Architecture

     Services Employees

     Location or Enterprise-based Pricing

   Percentage of R&D Expense that is Dedicated to Engineering Work Related to

     G&A Employees

     Per Transaction or Event

   Scaleability, Reliability, and General Upkeep of Company's Service.

       Total

     Per Customer Revenues

Number of Datacenters in Use

   ASIA PACIFIC

  

 Average number of Servers in Each Datacenter 

     Median Number of Employees

   Percent of Companies that Charge an Uplift on US Pricing in EMEA

   Number of Product Lines Sold:

     Employees by Department (As a % of Asia Pacific Employees)

  

     Current Year

     R&D Employees

   Percent of Companies that Charge an Uplift on US Pricing in Asia Pacific

     Three Years Ago

     Sales Employees

 

 

     Marketing Employees

 BALANCE SHEET ITEMS AS A % OF TOTAL ASSETS

 OTHER INFORMATION

     Services Employees

 

   Amount of Venture Capital Taken Over Company's Life

     G&A Employees

   Assets:

   Is Company Public or Private?

       Total

     Cash & Cash Equivalents

     Public

   TOTAL

     Accounts Receivable

     Private

     Median Number of Employees

     Total Current Assets

 

 

     Total Assets

   Number of Years Since Company's IPO

     Employees by Department (As a % of Total Employees)

   Liabilities:

 

     R&D Employees

     Accounts Payable

     If Company is Public - Revenue Generated in Fiscal Year Prior to IPO

     Sales Employees

     Total Current Liabilities 

 

     Marketing Employees

     Total Long-Term Liabilities

   Number of Years Company Has Been in Operation

     Services Employees

     Total Net Worth or Stockholders’ Equity

 

     G&A Employees

     Total Liabilities and Net Worth

   Which of the Following Best Describes Expectations for the Coming Year:

       Total

     Cash & Cash Equivalents (in Dollars)

     Expect more than 50% growth

   EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY

 OVERALL PERFORMANCE MEASURES

     Expect between 20-50% growth

     Number of Employees (FTEs)

Asset Turnover (Net Sales/Total Assets)

     Expect Less than 20% growth

     Recognized Revenue Per Employee

Return on Assets (Net Profit Before Taxes as a % of Total Assets)

     Expect zero or negative growth

     Product Revenue Per Employee

   Return on Net Worth (Net Profit Before Taxes as a % of Net Worth)

     Other

     Service Revenue Per Employee

 Financial Leverage (Total Assets/Net Worth)   

 

     Travel Expenses Per Employee

   Debt to Equity (Total Liabilities/Net Worth)

 

     Facility Costs Per Employee

 Current Ratio 

 

     Bookings Per Employee

  Accounts Receivable Days

 

     Operating Expenses Per Employee

 

 

     American Recognized Revenue Per American Employee

 

 

     EMEA Recognized Revenue Per EMEA Employee

 

 

     Asia Pacific Recognized Revenue Per Asia Pacific Employee