Ways of Finding Software Vendors: The Pro’s and Con's
Joseph J. Strub - July 30, 2003

Introduction

The most frequently asked follow-up question to my article, Software Selection: An Approach, was 'How do I find potential software vendors?' Obviously, this is a critical question if the objective is to identify the best software solution to satisfying the business requirements of your company. The good news is that, before the Internet, you could go blind performing a search of the literature. The bad news is that, even with the Internet, you could still be searching for the proverbial needle in the software haystack. This article discusses four sources and methods for identifying software vendors and the pro’s and con's of each approach. These methods are the Internet, the competition, industry trade groups, and selection services. While there may be others, this group of methods should give you plenty to think about and allow you to draw some logical conclusions as to which method works best in your situation...