Title: Software product assessment based on customer inputs: metrics and managerial implications

Authors: Paul Damien, Mayuram S. Krishnan, Mary C. Meyer, Venkatram Ramaswamy

Addresses: McCombs School of Business, University of Texas in Austin, B6500, UT-Austin, Austin TX 78712, USA. ' Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. ' Department of Statistics, University of Georgia, 223 Statistics Building, Athens, GA 30602, USA. ' Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA

Abstract: We provide a framework and modelling approach to assess alignment of product variety for a software firm in meeting customer requirements and efficiently managing customer satisfaction. Our framework includes assessment of customer satisfaction and market alignment at multiple levels such as the market, firm and product levels. We define quantitative alignment indices at these levels based on both the mean and variability across customers in the importance placed on different product quality attributes in determining customer satisfaction. We illustrate our framework using data collected from over 2,000 customers of database software products offered by the leading firms in the software industry. The managerial implications of our analysis are discussed.

Keywords: alignment indices; customer satisfaction; software products; Bayesian inference; software product assessment; product variety; market alignment; product quality attributes; product features; benchmarking; metrics; customer input.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2005.006317

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2005 Vol.1 No.1, pp.44 - 55

Published online: 19 Feb 2005 *

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