Results from The Planning Survey show the product selection criteria used by best-in-class companies, which confirm that the most successful projects are based on selecting the tool rather than the vendor.

Best-in-class companies are much more interested in functionality, flexibility, ease of use and fast performance.

Reasons for buying planning and budgeting software by best-in-class companies

Why was your product chosen? Best-in-class vs. laggards, (n=121)

Laggards, on the other hand, do not carry out their software selection projects as thoroughly as they should compared to best-in-class companies.

The chart indicates that laggards seem to underestimate the need for a thorough software selection process, affording undue importance to criteria like ‘vendor listed as corporate standard’ and ‘bundled with another product’.

In BARC’s opinion, based on over 15 years of guiding customers through software selection projects, a thorough requirements analysis – including the definition and prioritization of needs – is essential as the basis for every project.

Thoroughly evaluating software products with regard to these technical and functional requirements guarantees that the wrong product is not chosen. Of course, criteria like ‘vendor listed as corporate standard’ and ‘bundled with another product’ have to be considered for simple financial reasons.

However, greater importance should always be attached to technical and functional requirements than to how much the product costs. When selecting a suitable software solution, always focus on your company’s requirements and how each solution fulfills them.

For further insights see The Planning Survey 16.