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Premise
How
an enterprise buys software has changed, forever. Buyers are skeptical, risk
adverse, and tighter with their budgets. What are those changes, why did they
happen, and what does it mean for the both the buying enterprise and the selling
vendor?
For
some buyers, they are very aware of the changes. For most, the change has been
subtler. The subjects they investigate have changed. The subjects are more challenging,
and buyers want more detail and more proof. For software vendors that don't
recognize and address these changes, selling application software will become
increasingly difficult.
History
Builds Skepticism
Everyone
is very aware that the dot-com bubble has burst. Many people felt it in their
401K or other investment areas. For the software industry, it has had obvious
impacts on, for example, their stock price or the availability of venture capital.
A less obvious impact is with the skepticism of the buyer. The dot-coms and
others made many statements about their impact on enterprises and the economy
in general (The New Economy) which have proven very false. The dot-com hype
has spilled over to all technology vendors and all are now seen as hyping their
benefits, and what their product can do, etc. Vendor claims are now met with
a healthy skepticism. Vendor claims are now met with a spoken or unspoken reaction
of "Prove it!"
The
late 90's and early 2000's heard a roar of outlandish vendor claims. Vendors
bragged about their products saving billions of dollars. Some of those vendors
are now shadows of their former self and these claims are now seen as false
claims or worse. The benefits hype of this period is another reason that today's
buyers are skeptical of vendor claims. If a vendor could be so very wrong and
even unethical about these claims in the recent past, why should buyers believe
any vendor today? Many software buyers recognize that the same people that were
hyping software with unsupported claims are many of the same people in the industry
today who are just working for different companies.
Today,
all vendors suffer from a lack of credibility at the beginning of the buying
process. Vendors must recognize this lack of credibility and work to overcome
it. Without credibility, their claims will not be accepted and their efforts
will suffer. Regardless of the true value that their software may bring, without
credibility that value sounds like the unsupported, over-hyped claims of the
past.
Economy
Yes,
the economy is still tight. Even those companies who have seen an up-tick are
still conservative in their IT spending. This means tight budgets and fewer
buyers in the market.
Tight
budgets and the "down sizing" of the late 90's has resulted in buyers lacking
the internal resources to implement new software. This causes buyers to more
fully investigate the implementation requirements for any purchases they are
considering. The lack of internal resources can be compensated for with vendor
services, but budgets are often not available for these services.
Fewer
buyers in the market means increased pressure on vendors. Many vendors rely
on new buyers as their major source of revenue. As one vendor executive stated,
"We have too many vendors chasing too few deals." That translates to desperate
vendors that result in buyer questions about vendor integrity and honesty. Can
the vendors keep the promises they make? Major discounting is a way of life
for some vendors but buyers should think about such vendors' product and services
being "too cheap" such that the vendor cannot afford to meet their commitments.
The
impact of the economy has been felt in the vendor community. Poor financial
results, tight capital markets, and the drop in stock prices have led to market
consolidation. The question of business viability was long limited to smaller
or start-up vendors. Buyers now question the viability of all but the largest
vendors and even then, they question the financial independence of those vendors.
The questions include, "will you be in business?" and "what happens to me if
you are bought out?"
Risk
Buyers
are more aware of the risk involved in major purchases and implementation projects.
The press and analysts have reported the wide spread lack of return on investment
ROI and run away implementation cost in many IT projects. Risk comes in other
varieties; the product not performing as promised, intolerable business disruption,
and others. In the current employment environment, decision makers and selection
teams are also concerned about personal risk: if I go with this project, and
something goes wrong, what happens to me?
The
tight economy means cost of failure is seen as higher than normal. The lack
of financial and human resources means that project failure resulted in the
wasting of those limited resources.
Vendors
Face a Cross Roads
Many
vendors will tell you that they have faced some of the most difficult sales
cycles in their careers over the past few years. Many of these same vendors
remain hopeful that as the economy picks up, things will get "back to normal".
"Normal", however, has changed. The previous overzealous buying environment
is behind us, and the new buyer has emerged. Vendors that stick to their knitting
and believe that the good times will return have missed the marketplace shift.
Leading vendors have recognized this shift and changed their marketing and sales
approaches to compensate, or even take advantage of the new buying scenario.
Summary
Buyers
should be prepared to ask the questions that are needed for the enterprise to
feel comfortable with the selection and project. Be up-front about concerns
and doubts, demand more detail and more proof. Only by addressing these issues
directly can you get the answers you need.
Vendors
should be prepared to address these questions. The most effective vendors will
anticipate the questions and build their sales and marketing efforts to directly
answer the questions and to give your company the credibility required to be
believed in these skeptical times.
Vendors,
learn more at www.thecredibilityforum.com
or www.technologyevaluation.com/TheCredibilityForum/
About
the Authors
Jim
Brown has over fifteen years of experience in management consulting
and application software focused on the manufacturing industries. Brown
is a recognized expert in software solutions for manufacturing and has broad
knowledge of applying enterprise applications such as product lifecycle management,
supply chain management, and ERP to improve business performance. Brown
served in executive roles for software companies specializing in manufacturing
solutions before starting his consulting firm, Tech-Clarity, Inc.
Olin
Thompson is a principal of Process ERP Partners. He
has over twenty-five years experience as an executive in the software industry.
Thompson has been called "the Father of Process ERP" and he
is a frequent author and an award-winning speaker on topics of gaining value
from ERP, SCP, e-commerce, and the impact of technology on industry.