The slowdown in enterprise software spending is forcing some software firms to go to extraordinary lengths to win business. Palo Alto Networks, for instance, is giving away cloud security service—literally.
The company, which is the biggest stand-alone security software firm measured by market capitalization, is offering its cloud security software for free for up to two years to customers who ditch a competing service to sign up with it, according to interviews with customers and sales pitch documents viewed by The Information. It’s an unusually aggressive tactic to win customers, according to industry executives, who say it’s more common for software firms to offer discounts for customers who agree to buy multiple products.
