When Lawson, an enterprise software company, was considering making major changes to its support offerings in 2007, Lawson’s executives knew they could not afford to make a decision based on what competitors were doing or on anecdotal evidence from customers and employees. Lawson needed reliable, objective research and a method for converting that research into insight and action.

If research is to serve as a reliable guide for making major changes to offerings, companies need to take a comprehensive approach. They need to consider all the pieces of the business that will be affected by the decision—from customers to operations, strategy, and profitability—and factor them into the research.

Without this comprehensive approach to research, companies put themselves at risk by relying on incomplete—or incorrect—information as the basis for an important business decision. In this ITSMA Case Study, we outline the research process Lawson used to ensure that there would be no doubts about the future direction of its support and maintenance offerings.