How closely do the capabilities and functions of the solution meet the requirements?
Conversely, are there a lot of extra “bells and whistles” that the organization does not need or would not use, but add to the cost and complexity of the system?
How closely does the application package fit the process used by the organization? If the solution is implemented, would the organization be able to use it for their process? Will the business process need to change significantly, requiring additional training and other organizational changes? Would the changes in the process used by the vendor’s solution actually help improve the business process? The more the business process has to adapt to the system, the less likely the system is to be accepted by the users. If significant differences exist between the system and the process in use, and major changes are required to the off-the-shelf system, the cost, complexity, and risk may well outweigh any benefits of the COTS solution. However, if the organization is seeking to improve its business processes, COTS/SaaS solutions often implement optimized business processes in the software, a benefit for the organizations that implement them.
How much configuration or customization will be needed to put the COTS system into use? Some COTS products allow or require extensive configuration or customization in order to make the system useful to any organization. Others require minimal configuration to set the system up for use in a specific organization. These activities are major determinants of initial cost and implementation time, and add to the ongoing maintenance costs.