Comments on: Bad Software Buying Habits http://blog.solutionexplorers.com/2009/12/bad-software-buying-habits/ Transforming the Software Technology Buying & Selling Experience Thu, 08 Dec 2011 06:18:49 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Keith German http://blog.solutionexplorers.com/2009/12/bad-software-buying-habits/comment-page-1/#comment-12 Keith German Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:56:07 +0000 http://blog.solutionexplorers.com/?p=56#comment-12 Brad - you're spot on in these obsersations. Keep an eye on the latter one as many buyers and the software technology industry appears to be moving toward hosted, Saas, web-based solutions. These have many upsides I believe. One drawback it appears in the Saas world, however, is that most of these providers select the database; and as you indicated it is proprietary. In fact, I'll give some thought now to writing a post outline some differences between hosted, Web-based, Saas, and on-premise client/server applications. Thanks! Brad – you're spot on in these obsersations. Keep an eye on the latter one as many buyers and the software technology industry appears to be moving toward hosted, Saas, web-based solutions. These have many upsides I believe. One drawback it appears in the Saas world, however, is that most of these providers select the database; and as you indicated it is proprietary. In fact, I'll give some thought now to writing a post outline some differences between hosted, Web-based, Saas, and on-premise client/server applications. Thanks!

]]> By: bradclosson http://blog.solutionexplorers.com/2009/12/bad-software-buying-habits/comment-page-1/#comment-11 bradclosson Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:10:02 +0000 http://blog.solutionexplorers.com/?p=56#comment-11 Gosh Keith, I think one that comes to mind in my experience is having the management team select a tool for the masses to use without the actual users getting any say. This goes hand in hand with your #1 issue. Another problem I've seen which is an extension of your #4, is purchasing a software solution that has a proprietary back end. In particular, a back end that does not allow for simple exports to Excel, Access, SQL, etc... Products need to always have the ability to "kick" out data to other formats. Good article! Gosh Keith, I think one that comes to mind in my experience is having the management team select a tool for the masses to use without the actual users getting any say. This goes hand in hand with your #1 issue. Another problem I've seen which is an extension of your #4, is purchasing a software solution that has a proprietary back end. In particular, a back end that does not allow for simple exports to Excel, Access, SQL, etc… Products need to always have the ability to “kick” out data to other formats. Good article!

]]> By: Keith German http://blog.solutionexplorers.com/2009/12/bad-software-buying-habits/comment-page-1/#comment-9 Keith German Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:25:06 +0000 http://blog.solutionexplorers.com/?p=56#comment-9 David - what an excellent addition. One of my objectives as I help businesses with effective evaluations is to engage those most impacted by the application change early in the process so that their concerns and opinions are heard. Thanks for commenting. David – what an excellent addition. One of my objectives as I help businesses with effective evaluations is to engage those most impacted by the application change early in the process so that their concerns and opinions are heard. Thanks for commenting.

]]> By: David Clark http://blog.solutionexplorers.com/2009/12/bad-software-buying-habits/comment-page-1/#comment-8 David Clark Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:07:21 +0000 http://blog.solutionexplorers.com/?p=56#comment-8 Excellent post, and yes, the 7 points above can all lead to software selection disaster--or at the least, serious and long-term IT headaches. Another critical factor in the software selection process is user buy-in as a component of change management. Even if you select a "best-fit" enterprise system, failure to obtain user buy-in at the selection stage will result in low user adoption rates, pervasive workarounds, and epidemics of information silos. See my posting at <a href="http://blog.technologyevaluation.com/blog/2007/12/06/how-to-kill-a-software-selection-project-in-10-very-easy-steps/" rel="nofollow">http://blog.technologyevaluation.com/blog/2007/...</a> for more disasters in the making!<br><br>All the best, and thanks for an insightful posting.<br><br>David Clark<br>Managing Editor<br>Technology Evaluation Centers<br>"Enterprise Software Evaluations: Simply Decide" Excellent post, and yes, the 7 points above can all lead to software selection disaster–or at the least, serious and long-term IT headaches. Another critical factor in the software selection process is user buy-in as a component of change management. Even if you select a “best-fit” enterprise system, failure to obtain user buy-in at the selection stage will result in low user adoption rates, pervasive workarounds, and epidemics of information silos. See my posting at http://blog.technologyevaluation.com/blog/2007/... for more disasters in the making!

All the best, and thanks for an insightful posting.

David Clark
Managing Editor
Technology Evaluation Centers
“Enterprise Software Evaluations: Simply Decide”

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