Interactive or Template Based? Which of these two approaches to business plan software should you buy?
First, consider the differences between them.
Interactive business plan software usually uses an interview-based format to guide you through the development of the business plan. What comes up next when you’re using the software is dependent on your answers.
Template-based business plan software is sometimes referred to as "fill-in-the-blanks" business plan software. To use this kind of business plan software, you basically choose your template (if you're given a choice of templates to use) and complete and/or personalize the necessary information to develop a business plan.
Neither of these approaches is inherently "better" than the other; it's more a matter of which approach you are more comfortable with as a software user. Both interactive and template-based business plan software will do the job and both often come with useful bundles of resources such as collections of business plan samples, business plan guide books and industry profiles.
One way to look at the question is to ask yourself how much of the writing of the business plan you actually want to do. With template-based business plan software, more of the text is already written for you. However, you still need to read all of the supplied text carefully as you work through your business plan; the text in business plan templates may not be written as well as you would like.
