Investigation of potential solutions

The investigation of potential software solutions must involve what is common practice in the industry. Consider the following questions:

• Are there dominant market leaders in information provision? Do they set the standards, or offer facilities that reinforce other standards? (For example, booksellers these days cannot ignore Amazon, EBay, Abebooks or Alibris - but how should they fit their practice in with these giants?)
• Are there dominant software systems? If not, is there already a solution that is freely available that makes use of standard productivity software?   

The solution within the context of the organisation 

It is important to understand the placement of the solution within the context of an organisation: 

Is the organisation paid or voluntary - and what effect does this have on the KM solution?

Staff preparedness: are there continuing education or professional organisation courses that can get staff members to be more up-to-date with their peers? 

Interaction with other organisations and potential clientele: Are there conferences? Trade shows etc?