The irony is that we spend more time reading reviews on relatively inexpensive consumer services than on what real users have to say about business software and services that are expensive, time consuming, and where the wrong decision can create a huge cost to your business, not to mention a high degree of frustration. See the story illustrated below (please double click on the graphic for the best view):
The Internet is changing how businesses shop. While consumers have learned to check out review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor before going out to eat or taking a trip, business shoppers have been relying on more old school methods when selecting software and services.
Regardless of whether you have any technical sophistication these days you are expected to be Internet-savvy, to say the least, in your professional environment. The Internet has enabled the explosion of web-based software for every business function you can think of, making it necessary for even the most non-techie business manager and business owner to have a command of which tools their business or department should be using (e.g., everything from email marketing software to remote login tools to web conferencing software, etc.).
This is why we created Comparz.com, to give you a place to shop for web-based software and read what real users have to say. Comparz has over a thousand user reviews on over 150 types of web-based business software. In fact, we invite you to write a review for your favorite web-based software tool and help others learn from your experience.
Thanks so much Eric. The pace of change in software services available is unparalleled. For anyone to keep track is so challenging but crucial to a company's ability to remain competitive.
Rachel, you are on to something here, particularly the stat that only 13% of small businesses find technology vendors using review sites.
With so many vendors of SMB software, buyers need a way to look across vendors. TechTarget research (serving in part larger companies) has highlighted vendor comparisons as that is valuable but rarely available. With the number of solutions in the SMB space, and how quickly the landscape changes, combining crowdsourced reviews with editorial reviews is probably the only way to keep up with the changing list of vendors as well as the speed at which features and functionality is changed.
Good stuff, keep it up!