Author Archives: Patrick Russell

The Sources of Business Intelligence

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Patrick Russell

Business Intelligence (abbreviated BI) is one of the hottest areas in Information Technology today.  In fact, a number of specialists in other areas, such as predictive analytics, are rebranding themselves.  It isn’t that they are doing anything fundamentally new.  Rather … Continue reading →

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Canned, Customized, or Custom: Which Software Choice is Right for You?

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Patrick Russell

Businesses looking for specialized software naturally want to save money in their purchases.  Do you go for a “canned” system, or hire people to build something custom for you?  The answer is that it depends on the nature of what you are … Continue reading →

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Software Decisions: The Chicken and Egg Problem

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Patrick Russell

Businesses are often faced with the purchase or development of major software systems. We often refer to major business systems as “enterprise software” or “workflow” or “process automation.” There are many varieties of these big systems, but what they all … Continue reading →

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Software Upgrades: A Mixed Bag

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Patrick Russell

Software upgrades often leave computer users disgruntled.  Upgrades are designed to fix bugs and add new features.  However, adding features typically adds complexity, which can obfuscate work that had been comfortable.  A common complaint is that it now takes 5 … Continue reading →

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Own Your Own Project

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Patrick Russell

In my earlier blog, entitled The Investment, I talked about the importance of maintaining realistic expectations for the costs and efforts involved in custom software, making the business case, and avoiding the knee-jerk reaction.  Here I will outline a related … Continue reading →

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The Investment

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Patrick Russell

Businesspeople often have skewed perceptions about the cost of software.  A few months ago I talked with a group of reasonably tech-savvy people who wanted to build a fully functioning social networking website on a $10,000 budget – and to … Continue reading →

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Software Subscription Prices

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Patrick Russell

In the earlier blog entry entitled, Monetization:  How is it affecting your business?, we noted that many organizations are choosing to forgo internal hosting for subscription services.  This can be tremendously cost-effective for many businesses and organizations.  However, a hardnosed examination … Continue reading →

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Monetization: How is it affecting your business?

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Patrick Russell

Have you examined your cell phone bill recently?  There have been a number of stories on the news recently about overcharging.  Some companies have figured out how to charge add-on fees in the most deceptive ways.  Some of these charges … Continue reading →

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The Reputable Salesperson Versus the Tech Advisor

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Patrick Russell

Vendors and consulting companies selling systems or projects are there to win the sale.  Reputable salespeople do adhere to ethical standards.  They won’t sell you an $80,000 system when they know that one for $15,000 will do the job.  They … Continue reading →

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Are You Really Getting Your Money’s Worth?

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Patrick Russell

In software systems, as in many other areas of business and life, there is the old maxim, “You get what you pay for.”  This maxim wisely advises us not to “cheap out” – to try to get by with less … Continue reading →

Posted in ARCHIVE (Posts prior to 2013), Due Diligence, Software Price/Value, Tech Advisor/Advocate | Comments Off on Are You Really Getting Your Money’s Worth?