UF Postings Past: Understanding Customer Requirements and ROI

There is a tough balance line that any software vendor dances on when building or upgrading a product. Your existing customers are all going to have a list of requirements that they feel like are important to them. If you try to satisfy all of the needs of all of your stakeholders, you will never get your product done. How do you choose the right requirements to meet without alienating customers over their left-out requirements?

Get the customers involved. Choose a pilot group of customers to work with. Agree with them that you will hear their needs and will accomodate requirements that fit within your production schedule and shows a real ROI. Have your folks sit down with them and work out the ROI. Sometimes when the customer sees what they will gain from the feature, it’s not really worth it. Sometimes, on the other hand, you believe that you know the customer’s business, but you find out that you’re dead wrong- the requirement they’re asking for is a major ROI coup.

This approach not only helps you do two things. First, you build products that include only the features that show real ROI value to your customers. You leave out things that seem cool, but in fact have little value. Secondly, you develop real numbers to back up why some features are good versus others. When questioned about why a feature matters, you can lay down hard numbers. You can also defend why some features were left out- and why those features in competitor products look cool, but in fact do not work out to the savings that they appear.

The end result? You build smarter products that match up with your customers real (not perceived) needs. You also build formidable marketing and sales data backed with ROI figures. When it comes time to knock on doors and sell, you aren’t armed with market buzz- you are armed with hard numbers, case studies, and hard facts from the real world. Not only is your product better, you can prove it.

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