Software packages - What you always wanted to know when buying software but were afraid to ask

This paper presents seven alerts that inform organizations and individuals buying software packages. The research is based on our own studies as well as a review of theoretical and empirical studies of modern information systems and the networks associated with these systems. The paper departs from a monolithic view of buying software as an atomic event that is based solely on the software's independent features and its immediate price. Instead we promote a pluralistic multi-organizational view of buying software as a continuous process of trying to match available packages with a base of already installed information systems while anticipating future needs. We have formulated seven alerts that both researchers and practitioners should consider when studying these building blocks of e-business.