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Buying Software as a Group Decision
You might find yourself in a situation where a software purchase isn’t necessarily your own. Other people in your environment, whether those people are family members or co-workers, could influence your decision. This article introduces a few methods that will make the process of group purchasing a little less complicated.
Assess the needs of each individual in the group.
It would be a mistake to assume that you know what everyone within your group needs from a particular software product. If you’re responsible for managing a small office for example, and you believe everyone would appreciate having access to a Visual Basic enabled Word program, you might overspend and overwhelm your co-workers.
Visual Basic is an example program that’s not only appropriate for programmers; it consumes an enormous amount of resources on low end computers as well. If no one in your group is a programmer, or has a high end machine, why pay for such a program when much simpler and more scaled down alternatives are available? (Not to mention appreciated by your group members!)
Evaluate the skills of your group’s computer users.
In addition to evaluating the needs of your group’s members, you’ll want to do the same with your group’s skills, and consider how much additional training may be needed to use a complicated application. If you can find a product that doesn’t increase the need for training, that will reduce your costs. But if upgrading skills is inevitable, try to find a software product that eases users into new features and functions with wizards.
Wizards help users complete complicated functions step-by-step through a simple interface that’s less intimidating than hoards of submenus, multiple options, or complex programming. If you’re familiar with MS Access, then you know how easy its wizards make database creation.
Check your budget.
Can everyone in the group make a reasonable and equal contribution toward the software’s total cost? If not, seek an alternative. Our article entitled, “Savvy Software Shopping,” shows you how. You can find additional resources by asking your group’s members for suggestions.
The important lesson to learn here is that you can create an amicable user environment by considering the personal, equipment, and financial needs of everyone you work with. Doing otherwise can decrease productivity – especially when training, upgrading multiple machines, and an inability to meet a budget increases delays.
External Resources:
Most popular software products (updated hourly).
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