Enterprise software vendors sometimes play unpleasant games to sell their products. InfoWorld describes these tricks in a story called, Dirty Vendor Tricks, written by veteran journalist Dan Tynan, who has covered many stories of IT failure.
Here's Dan's list of six tricks enterprise vendors use against customers, but the descriptions are mine:
THE PROJECT FAILURES ANALYSIS
Strategic enterprise software purchases are complicated to buy and expensive to implement. Since these products automate core business functions, they reflect genuine complexity in the buyer's organization. Some vendors use this complexity unfairly to manipulate potential customers into making uninformed and poorly considered purchases.
In general, the software itself is not to blame; these are human, not technical, issues. It's worth noting that some observers incorrectly believe that faulty software causes most IT failures. That perspective is wrong and misinformed.
Enterprise customers should treat software purchases with the same care and attention as buying a home: research the vendor, talk with other customers, and ask objective, third-party experts for advice. Although enterprise software is a minefield, many customers do buy and implement successfully.
The tricks described in this post range from subtle persuasion to outright deception. However, they all rely on aggressive vendors taking advantage of uninformed customers. In the end, caveat emptor applies and education is the great force for achieving success.
Have you seen vendors play these tricks or others? Please share your thoughts!
[Image from iStockphoto.]