I can hardly believe it. I’ve been in the EDA business since 1980 when I joined TI’s Design Automation Department after graduating from Cal Poly with my BSEE. Since 1995, much of my attention has been focused on EDA standards. I reached a moment of truth this year when I admitted, albeit reluctantly, that I could be called a standards-lifer. So, I decided it’s time to share my perspectives on what’s going on in the standards arena. Welcome to my blog - I can’t wait to hear from you! Standards organization fees – are you getting your money’s worth?
Posted by Karen Bartleson on April 17th, 2009
In a previous post, I discussed participation in standards activities and why the time cost of participation can be worth it. I said I would talk about the monetary cost of standards organization fees at a future date. That future date is today.
My company, Synopsys, belongs to a lot of standards organizations. More than 36 encompassing more than 100 working groups, actually. We pay a fair amount of money to these organizations. Around 600,000 dollars per year. That’s a lot of cash. We believe we’re getting a positive ROI, and we reevaluate our memberships with each budgetary cycle.
The cost of standards membership fees is not a new issue. About 10 years ago, I was a participant in the Standards Committee within the EDA Consortium. (For those of you outside the electronic design automation industry, EDAC is our trade association.) At the time, there was concern that the EDA industry was spending a lot of money on standards organizations and not getting enough value in return. There was quite a bit of turmoil in the standards game, and both the EDA industry and its customers were unhappy. (Here’s more on the history of the EDA standards game.)
The EDAC Standards Committee developed and published a Funding Report that identified how much the EDA industry as a whole was paying to its standards organizations. It was a big number. The Standards Committee took an interesting action, attempting to funnel all standards dues payments from EDAC member companies through the Standards Committee, with the goal of paying only the standards organizations that provided a real benefit to the EDA industry. As you can imagine, there was much fear and resistance from the standards organizations. One of them even threatened to sue EDAC! Even though dues funneling didn’t continue, it gave everyone quite a wake-up call.
I’m certain standards organization fees are not just a concern in my industry. Any responsible business should examine the organizations to which it belongs. I’ll offer you 10 questions to ask yourself that could help you decide if you’re getting your money’s worth:
- Does the organization have a well-defined vision?
- Are bylaws, policies, procedures, and contracts documented and available to all members?
- Are you comfortable with the IP policy?
- Do you deem the processes as fair to you and your customers?
- Are the organization’s finances handled responsibly?
- If you’re on the Board of Directors, part of governing committees, or contributing to working groups, are you treated with respect?
- Does the organization produce standards in a timely manner?
- Are the standards market-relevant?
- Do the standards help make your products more attractive?
- Do the standards address a need of your customers?
As always, I invite you to comment here if you have additional measures of a standards organization’s value to your business.
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