Oh, the allure of the sales pitch. That attractive male or female salesperson running through a carefully orchestrated script, artfully demonstrating that their software will solve every difficulty you can possibly imagine. And that’s the problem. But don’t just blame the vendors, according to a new study your users and technology committees are just as much to blame.

The study found that users are equally guilty of valuing capability over usability when choosing software. Sure, vendors try to justify upgrades by packing niche or highly specialized features into software versions, which then distract and overload users. When making purchasing decisions, however, users equate more capabilities to a better product. But when using the software, they complain about its usability because they are overwhelmed by the features and the overall complexity. So they are Dr. Jekyll during the sale, but Mr. Hyde when it comes to using it. This is apparently true for novices and experts alike.

One conclusion we draw is that IT needs to take a greater role in educating and focusing users (and technology committees) on the core functionality they are looking to meet. What the study didn’t mention was that the users won’t blame themselves for the purchase decision, they will blame IT. Ultimately, the software becomes IT’s responsibility anyway, so IT managers better manage the purchasing decision from the start.