Survey: Software Usability Is More Important Than Features -- Enterprise Software 

Software companies try to drive interest in their offerings through steady upgrades to features and functionality. But when it comes to realizing the value of a deployment, a new study finds software functionality ... barely matters. Instead, a user community's effective adoption of the software was by far the top-ranking factor for realizing value, cited by 70% of 159 respondents to a survey conducted by venture capital firm Sand Hill Group and consulting company Neochange. Sixteen percent of respondents ranked organizational change and 13% cited process alignment, while just 1% ranked software functionality as the top factor for realizing value. Software user adoption emerged as a strong theme throughout the study, which surveyed both software buyers and vendors in an effort to discover the meaning of enterprise software success. When asked how to best define success, 89% of buyers and 94% of vendors cited value realization. The next-highest-ranking factor for defining success was effect   [More...] [Less...]