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62 Part 1 • SyStemS analySiS FundamentalS

CONSULTING OPPORTUNITY 3.2

Veni, Vidi, Vendi, or, “I Came, I Saw, I Sold”

“It’s really some choice. I mean, no single package seems to could all be chosen by Roman numerals. It was easy to follow.
have everything we want. Some of them come darn close, though,” And the vendor isn’t going to be hard to move on price. I think
says Roman, an advertising executive for Empire Magazine with they’re already in a price war.”
whom you have been working on a systems project. Recently, “Do you want to know my favorite, though?” Roman asks
the two of you have decided that packaged software would prob- archly. “It’s the one put out by Jupiter, Unlimited. I mean, it
ably suit the advertising department’s needs and stem its general has everything, doesn’t it? It costs a little extra coin, but it
decline. does what we need it to do, and the documentation is heav-
“The last guy’s demo we saw—you know, the one who worked enly. They don’t do any training, of course. They think they’re
for Data Coliseum—really had a well-rounded pitch. And I like above it.”
their brochure. Full-color printing, on card stock. Classic,” Roman You are already plotting that to answer Roman’s burning
asserts. “And what about those people from Vesta Systems? questions by your March 15 deadline, you need to evaluate
They’re really fired up. And their package was easy to use with a the software as well as the vendors, systematically, and then
minimum of ceremony. Besides, they said they would train all 12 render a decision. Evaluate each vendor and package based on
of us, on-site, at no charge. But look at their advertising. They just what Roman has said so far. (Assume that you can trust his
take things off their printers.” opinions.) What are Roman’s apparent biases when evaluating
Roman fiddles in his chair as he continues his ad hoc review software and vendors? What further information do you need
of software and software vendors. “That one package from Mars, about each company and its software before you can make a
Inc., really sold me all on its own, though. I mean, it had a built- selection? Set up a table to evaluate each vendor. Answer each
in calendar. And I like the way the menus for the screen displays question in a separate paragraph.

the organization you are designing the system for is unlikely to undergo major changes after the
proposed purchase of COTS software, such as a dramatic increase in customers or large physical
expansions.
There are some advantages to purchasing COTS software that you should keep in mind
as you weigh alternatives. One advantage is that these products have been refined through the
process of commercial use and distribution so that often there are additional functionalities
offered. Another advantage is that packaged software is typically extensively tested and thus
extremely reliable.
Increased functionality is often offered with COTS software because a commercial product
is likely to have sister products, add-on features, and upgrades that enhance its attractiveness.
Additionally, analysts often find that the initial cost of COTS software is lower than the cost for
either in-house software development or the use of a SaaS provider.
Another advantage of purchasing COTS packages is that many other companies use them,
so analysts are not experimenting on their clients with one-of-a-kind software applications.
Finally, COTS software boasts an advantage in the help and training that accompanies the pur-
chase of the packaged software.
One example of the use of COTS software is from a theatre company in the nonprofit
sector, in which organizations (particularly in the performing arts) tend to lag behind their
for-profit counterparts in adoption of information communication technologies (ICTs). The
theatre company was predictably slow to move to the Web. When the company wanted to
create ecommerce applications, it was put in a position of having to hire outside designers to
create ecommerce applications for them. In light of the expense and lack of in-house expertise,
many nonprofit organizations simply did not move the business portion of their organizations
to the Web; instead, they waited for COTS packages, such as PC-based box office software
or SaaS, such as online ticketing agencies with automation already in place, to make these
services available to patrons. In-house, custom software development was out of the question
for most of these groups, which typically have small or nonexistent IT staffs and budgets and
minimal internal IT expertise.