Why Do You Buy CAD Software? Survey Result (preliminary)

Here are some results from our survey "Why Do You Buy CAD Software?"

Here are the most factors, listed in order of importance:

1. robustness of software (most important) 8.1
2. read legacy data 7.4
3. initial cost and maintenance 5.7
4. reputation of company  5.6
5. write legacy data 5.6
6. availability of trained personnel  5.5
7. popularity  5.1
8. evaluation during a trial period 5.0
9. scores in benchmarks 4.8
10. published reviews  3.7
11. case histories 3.4
12. shoot outs  2.8
13. advertising (least important) 1.0

The numbers after each entry represent an weighted score showing relative importance and is normalized to the lowest score. From those numbers, you can tell that #1 robustness was 8.1 times more important than advertising.

Over 120 people have taken they survey so far. If you haven't already, please give your input at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=891102592287. The survey will be online through November

Comments

[mike schettine]

New features that promote efficancies and accuarcy. Here's a thought...what about computer generated templates coming from the CAD drawing? I know a company that promotes this product for building structures.

[Alex Neihaus]

Hi, Roopinder. While it's pretty clear we have a product agenda, we hope our response to the survey results will make CAD people think harder about their role in the larger organization. It's at http://www.3dmojo.com/2006/10/16/what-does-geometry-mean-to-a-marketer/

[Paul Kieffer]

It would be very interesting to find out who makes the ultimate decision on what CAD system to buy.

It frequently seems that the decision makers are not involved directly in doing the work.....