A two-stage study was conducted of potential software
application package users. The first stage defined 38 issues
which were viewed as potential obstacles t o the purchase and
implementation of applications packages. In the second stage,
the relative importance of these 38 issues was quantified. The
results suggest that the key obstacle to wider usage of
applications packages is uncertainty. Various steps which
package developers and package users can take to reduce
uncertainty are suggested.Information Systems Working Papers Serie
