"Success in the Championship comes down to one factor - the quality of your players," said Jones.
"Every player at this level has a flaw in their make-up, otherwise they would be in the Premiership.
"When I was at Wolves I signed Paul Ince and Denis Irwin. Both of them had a flaw - not ability, but age.
"We need to build a team with less flaws than the other Championship teams.
"Derby County are through to the play-off final, against West Brom.
"But Derby were no better than us last season, while we really should have won at West Brom."
And more quality in the ranks would have kept City in the hunt for longer, said Jones.
"We failed to sustain the momentum we created," he added. "Losing Riccy Scimeca through injury was key. He is a massive player for us.
"But we also lost Darren Purse and Glenn Loovens, which were massive blows. The problem was we simply did not have replacements of the right experience available.
"We must work to ensure that doesn't happen next season."