Marketplace issues in software planning and design

Software management and project decisions must consider many factors. The most recognized return-on-investment drivers include the value to users; the cost of development, maintenance, upgrades, and customer support; and the risks of project failure, budget overrun, and revenue shortfall. We focus on other ROI issues related to positioning software in the marketplace, which serves as an intermediary between a software supplier organization and its customers. Rather than discuss contracted software development for specific customers or open-source software efforts, we emphasize the uncertainties and strategic issues that suppliers encounter in selling or licensing software in the general marketplace. We categorize these issues by the standard ROI measures of revenue, cost, and risk.