Adopting New Tools: Frustration or Salvation?

There comes a time when your organization needs to adopt new tools, technologies to smooth the way for your business growth. So you start sorting through different products’ offerings and you end up purchasing a new system which you expect to be a fix-all.

We often get to hear from our dealers about clients/companies who adopted a new software solution to find out that it is not exactly something they have been looking for. So they either have to live with their choice or try to forget the fiasco and start searching for the funds and other options.

Choosing the right business software is indeed a trying time for a company. Will it turn out one big frustration or, after all, salvation? Let’s go over the most important points to consider when picking business software.

Proper upfront needs analysis

• Analyze your past
  Make the list of challenges your business had to deal with recently. Identify the pains. What needs does the software have to fill?
• Analyze your present
  Study your current deployment environment to make sure there is not going to be too much rework.
• Make projections into the future
  Are you going maybe to branch out down the road? What if your business size changes? Will the software scale to fit your new size?

Concerns and Considerations

• Evaluating price points. Determine your budget, taking into account the fact that along with the upfront costs there can be some recurrent costs – this has to be made absolutely clear by the vendor
• Detailed analysis of features. It sometimes can be an under- or, on the opposite, overqualified product.
• Integrations. There is a chance this software can be integrated with existing systems in your company, so it is going to fit into the environment nicely. However, there is a chance you will have to make too many adjustments
• Implementation. How easy is the set-up? Does the vendor provide online trainings for the software?
• Scalability/Customization. How flexible is the system in terms of its capability to follow your growth/restructuring or whatever?
• Support. What are the support options? You have to be absolutely sure there’ll always be someone for you out there to help you deal with problems you might encounter during first couple of months. Take note of how responsive the whole team is while you are just a prospective buyer.
• Updates, upgrades availability. How are you going to get updates down the road if the vendor does provide them? Check for hidden additional fees

A couple of more tips: take your time to go over the Q&A on the vendor’s website and also check for specials – most vendors have sales at least twice a year (at HandiFox, it is July and December).

Do you own research

Real user reviews, case studies, and grids – they are all available on multiple business software review platforms like capterra.com, softwareadvice.com, g2crowd.com and others. As a third-party they do make sure those posts are generated by real users and are 100% trustworthy. Why not get in touch with one of the reviewers and hear their firsthand opinion? Some of our clients have already taken advantage of this opportunity.

Software on probation

Don’t hesitate to request a free trial and fully utilize every single area of the software. This is the best you can do to make sure you are comfortable with the software and its vendor. At HandiFox we offer a free 30-day trial.

Establish a timeline for transition

The transition period and crunch times shouldn’t overlap –don’t make it harder for you. Plan the strategy and timeline for the transition really well.

This choice might take long in making but it is more likely to pan out this way. Choose wisely!