10 Ways the Software Selection Process Can Go Wrong

There are all too many ways that the software selection process can go wrong. Whether an organization plans to spend thousands or millions, correcting a misguided effort costs a bundle, consumes an enormous amount of time and effort, and can be avoided. If you see your organization doing any of the following, quick, take corrective action!

1. Only looking at the three or five best known names and settling for the “closest fit” among them doesn’t necessarily satisfy your requirements and can drive up implementation costs dramatically. Many small niche players offer exceptional solutions, negotiate better deals and can save you a bundle. Include more rigorous vendor due diligence as part of your software selection process when dealing with these guys.
2. A software selection process that tries to be everything to everyone will rarely achieve any measurable success for anyone. The most successful projects focus on business value and the few key requirements that will help the organization achieve that business value. Think sweet spot = ROI.
3. Believing that newer technology will fix business problems is a trap that organizations repeatedly fall into. It won’t, and in fact, it may make those business problems far more apparent than before. Define your new business processes before you go shopping for software so that the solution you choose enables the processes you plan to use.
4. Buying on software features alone, without considering navigation. You know those dead easy apps where just the button you’re looking for is always right where you need it? And those dead apps where you search pull-down menu after pull-down menu to perform the simplest task? The software selection process is not about the features list; it’s about how your users will sequence from one task to the next and whether this particular sequencing enhances your business processes.
5. Just as you would never consider buying electronics without knowing who manufactured it, a software selection process that doesn’t consider the vendor’s track record is a recipe for disaster. There are far more cool products I’d buy in an instant than companies I’d suggest my clients partner with. For a deeper look into vendor due diligence, download our free white paper, “The Technology is Great, Not So Sure about the Vendor” in the right column of this page.
6. If you need an implementation partner and you still think the software vendor is your strategic partner, you could be headed for big trouble. Look at it this way: if you need implementation services to make a solution useful in your environment, then the implementation partner is far more critical to your success than the application itself.  Choose your implementation partner independent of your vendor’s recommendations. Your vendor likes implementation partners that know his product well; you want an implementation partner who also knows your industry and points of integration.
7. Not knowing up front the full Total Cost of Ownership blows many, many cheap software/extensive- customizations-required solutions out of the water. One recent client was shocked to learn that their perfect $45K open source solution would cost $600K to make useful in their environment and another $300K annually to support. Not sure what goes into a TCO? Click here for a comprehensive list.
8. A software selection process that assumes the consent of other stakeholders without their involvement can easily get derailed. I know of several projects that experienced considerable delays after purchase when the buyer learned there was no funding or support to migrate existing data into his new solution. Oops!
9. Buying software that is too complex and based on a future state that may or may not ever be achieved. Overbuying software made sense for small, fast-growth companies when it was common to update enterprise applications only every decade or two. Today, this is the sweet spot of Software as a Service:  subscribe to as much capability as you need for as long as you need it, and change your vendor and subscription when you need to. With limited up-front costs and no long-term obligation, SaaS is the perfect approach for companies with fast-changing needs.
10. Buying software that has no product roadmap can be a dreadful waste of money. You want to know that the maintenance fees you’ll be paying will go to support the product you’re buying, not a beta app with no target market, nor a mature and stable app soon to be replaced by more current technology.