Twelve per cent of companies have suffered a
business-critical failure in their financial software in the past
two years, a survey of more than 1,000 firms has
found.
The failures involved either a system crashing and being
unavailable, or a system producing the wrong information.
The survey by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and
Wales also found widespread dissatisfaction among users over the
quality of their financial and enterprise software.
Poor product support was the main complaint, and the most expensive
software packages delivered the lowest levels of user satisfaction,
the survey found.
Paul Booth, technical manager at the Institute of Chartered
Accountants' IT faculty, said, "Poor-quality software is a
significant finding in the survey and there is an opportunity in
the market for producing better quality software and
support."
He added that failures in the accuracy of information systems
deliver could give firms a false confidence about their business.