It is preventive, not reactionary, protection. By helping to define user requirements and product capabilities in a binding way, and by clarifying vendor commitments in performance, functionality, and scheduling, expectations will better match capabilities. Honest disconnects will be flushed out in the planning stages. By giving the user realistic back-end remedies in case of failure, the vendor is better motivated to succeed. Users are typically disadvantaged in these transactions.
Vendors have greater expertise, leverage, and sophistication in the area.
The user, by contrast, is usually acquiring technology in an isolated transaction, apart from its core business, with which it is less familiar. It is also a reality that contract terms proposed by vendors are often imbalanced, sometimes extraordinarily so. Product claims which are made during the selling process are often disclaimed in the contract. The user's remedies are often limited. Ensuring Functionality Before examining alternative solutions or talking to vendors, a corporate user should carefully examine its own information needs and develop its own business requirements.