500 people in the U.S. were asked if upgrading or purchasing new enterprise software was a priority at a time when businesses are responding to an escalating health crisis. 

Our new research finds that updating underperforming or outdated legacy software will be a priority for businesses in 2020 – despite the impact of the global pandemic COVID-19. More than 60% of people surveyed said the main objective of buying new enterprise software would be to improve productivity, as opposed to reducing costs or increasing reporting capabilities.

We surveyed 500 Project Managers in the U.S. in March 2020, when businesses’ responses to the escalating health crisis were already in place, and several of the country’s biggest cities had implemented various stages of lockdown. The findings show that the response to COVID-19 has not adversely affected investment in enterprise software. Possibly, it helped some organizations realize their existing systems weren’t ready to support a fast transition to remote working.

Those surveyed said the most significant barrier to purchasing new software was budget. One third of respondents said their most recent software purchase went over budget, and more than half said it also took longer to implement than expected. Despite these challenges, more than 40% say they plan to purchase new enterprise software this year.

A lack of software demos and pilot programs may go some way in explaining the misjudged expenses and time frames. 43% of Project Managers surveyed did not organize a software demo with the vendor before their last enterprise software purchase, and nearly half didn’t run a pilot program before deployment.

DocsCorp VP of Global Commercial Operations, Ben Mitchell, commented on the research: “We hear directly from IT managers, CIOs, and CTOs that they want to update and modernize their core systems so they can take advantage of breakthrough technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI). Given the current climate, they also want to be able to support agile and remote working – and not all of their current enterprise software will support that.”

DocsCorp partnered with Chris Doig, enterprise software selection consultant, speaker, thought leader, and author to publish a new guide designed to help people switch to software that’s better suited to how they do business. Chris commented on the latest research: “Enterprise software should be an investment, not an expense. It can transform how a business operates, increasing productivity and, ultimately, profits. But it’s not always easy to buy enterprise software that meets every expectation and delivers a true return on investment. More than 90% of enterprise software purchases cost more than budgeted and deliver less than hoped.”

This new resource is designed to make selecting and purchasing enterprise software easier. It is full of expert advice on identifying underperforming software, running a successful software evaluation process, avoiding common mistakes, and creating a deployment plan. Download A straightforward approach to navigating the software selection maze here for free.

About the research

DocsCorp surveyed 500 Project Managers in the U.S. using crowd research platform Pollfish. A copy of the raw survey data is available upon request.