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As difficult as it is to buy the right software, you’d think they’d call it hardware. You need to be an expert in how to buy software. You need to know how to write a software specification. For every business there are many problems or needs that can be addressed. Technology will only be able to solve certain problems. For every one of those there are many technologies that will work. For every technology there are many more products or solutions of that technology. And, for every product or solution there are that many more vendors. How do you know if the vendor you picked is even going to have a product, a technology or a solution that can solve your problem and that it's the right problem to solve with technology? First you need to figure out which business problems need to be solved. Then you need to narrow down which of those business problems can be solved with technology. After that you need to determine which technologies are the right ones to apply to solve those problems. Only then can you identify the technology product or solution to address those needs. Don't even think about talking to a developer or vendor until you've done these steps. CMMI can be applied to small companies and in agile development environments and methods.You can achieve a CMMI level rating even though you use XP (Extreme Programming) or another Agile Development approach or method.Looking for help implementing CMMI? Need someone who will understand that 'your're different?' Looking for discipline in a lightweight environment? Entinex understands and can help you achieve your process objectives.Software development isn't manufacturing. So why do people keep trying to use manufacturing methods on software? Manufacturing QA doesn't work in software which is why so much software QA is so painful. Entinex has the solution. Don't let obsolete thinking about software processes intimidate you out of pursuing a CMMI level rating. Old-style thinking about software processes have not kept up with the times, but Entinex has. Entinex understands that you're in business not for the process but to make money selling software products, solutions, and services. Let Entinex help you achieve your process goals without breaking your bank or rhythm.
For every business there are many problems or needs that can be addressed. Technology will only be able to solve certain problems. For every one of those there are many technologies that will work. For every technology there are many more products or solutions of that technology. And, for every product or solution there are that many more vendors. How do you know if the vendor you picked is even going to have a product, a technology or a solution that can solve your problem and that it's the right problem to solve with technology?

Technology On Price Alone

 You don't buy a house or a car without knowing what you want first. Don't buy technology that way either. There are many good reasons to buy technology. Make sure you address those reasons when you do.
First you need to figure out which business problems need to be solved. Then you need to narrow down which of those business problems can be solved with technology. After that you need to determine which technologies are the right ones to apply to solve those problems. Only then can you identify the technology product or solution to address those needs. Don't even think about talking to a developer or vendor until you've done these steps.
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©2003, by Hillel Glazer, Entinex, Inc.

In a word, "fuggeddabbattit."

Unfortunately, when it comes to technology purchase decisions, many business owners have little to go on other than cost.  This article will summarize and start to solve several of those reasons.

Many business owners’ decision-making boils down to answering, "what’s it going to do to my bottom line?"  Which often further gets diluted to: "what’s it going to cost me?"  This is a reasonable approach, except that we all know that the bottom line isn’t just a function of money flowing in one direction.

On the balance sheet cost, is a one-way line item.  Though, the math behind "cost"  that goes on in the business owners’ heads really isn’t just "cost,"  it’s also accounting for the benefits, features, and savings elsewhere on the balance sheet.  So really, though the business owner is really thinking about bottom line, which has a lot more in it that just outlay.

Technology is frequently decided on cost alone because of four interwoven reasons:

1. Instead of comparing technical solutions to the business’ needs, business owners compare the options to each other.  Most often, of all the various technical solutions available, only some limited number of comparable features and functions are shared among them.  The various options aren’t similar enough to each other to make comparing them to one another and deciding on price alone a fair assessment of which one is "best"  for the business.

2. Vendors and product marketing have defined a value proposition appropriate to sell their wares.  They define their market of users and buyers and sell into it.  Their goal is to put business owners into their target market so that their product exactly fits the need -- as they, the vendors, see it.  This viewpoint doesn’t necessarily match the needs of the consumer. 

Closely related to this scenario, many business owners find themselves insecure in their implementation of technology.  As a result, they are led astray by vendors who describe the features and benefits of their products in terms of business activities that the owner may not be performing.  Your business doesn’t necessarily need all of the product’s features.

3. The high-tech generation of products and services has largely skipped over the consumer education process that typically preceded a sale in previous generations.  In traditional sales, the consumer is alerted to a product and educated about it through advertising, articles, and personal visits by salespeople and into showrooms.  Once upon a time, this educate-sales cycle was the only sales mechanism out there and all consumers were part of it. 

Today, business owners can easily do much of their own research, find vendors and products, and make a selection decision without ever meeting a salesperson or going to a showroom.  Furthermore, the technology consumer is often making the entire purchasing decision and implementation completely alone and in the dark.

4. Business owners have not defined their needs, or formalized their business practices well enough to be able to match the right technology to their business at the right price.  The previous three points are held together by this fundamental oversight in many technology-related decisions.  Without first defining what the owner’s ideal business processes would look like, and without characterizing the activities and results the owner currently lacks, no technology solution can be applied with any high degree of certainty.

As before, closely related to this oversight is the not-so-simple matter of articulating the business owners’ and business’ needs to the technology vendors.  The business owner thinks in business terms and the technology vendor generally thinks in technology terms.  Getting to common ground as far as terminology and expectations is made even more difficult when the owner hasn’t fully defined the problem she needs to solve and the vendor is looking to decorate their product to match the problem.

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Did you know that your technology project has an 80% chance of failing? Do you know what to do to improve those odds? Do you know what to ask your software developer or vendor to make sure they know what to do so that the project you're paying them to do doesn't fail?
Would you like your software estimates to improve? Would you like to have predictability and consistency in your software projects? Wouldn't it be nice if you could forecast your capacity for new work and your sales effort? Wouldn't better estimats result in happier clients?

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