Business Applications1

Business Applications
March 27, 2011

Business Applications
      Companies use very sophisticated software for the various departments within their company.   The company’s Information Systems manager stays in constant communication with other department managers to ensure that the department stays efficient and productive by using the latest and greatest software available.   The importance of software in computer systems has brought new issues to the forefront for organizational managers.   These issues include software defects (bugs), software evaluation and selection, licensing, open systems, open-source software, and software-as-a-service.
Selection Process
      The software evaluation and selection decision is a difficult one because it is affected by many factors.   The following table summarizes these selection factors.   The first part of the selection process involves understanding the organization’s software needs and identifying the criteria used in making the eventual decision.
Software Selection Factors
|Factor                                                 |Considerations                                                               |
|Size and location of user base                         |Does the proposed software support a few users in a location?               |
|                                                       |Can it accommodate large numbers of geographically dispersed users?         |
|Availability of system                                 |Does the software offer tools that monitor system usage?                     |
|                                                       |Does it maintain a list of authorized users and provide the level of         |
|                                                       |security needed?                                                             |
|Costs—initial and subsequent                           |Is the software affordable, taking into account all costs, including         |
|...