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

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.