When it comes to choosing business software for your enterprise, you don’t always know the best place to start.
You’d like to think you have your vendor selection process nailed down, but that’s not always how it works out in practice.
If that sounds like you, we feel you and understand where you’re coming from. Choosing and implementing business software solutions is never easy and always winds up taking more time than you’d like.
Fortunately, this post is here to help. We explore some best practices you can quickly adopt at your firm to make your software selection a little less challenging.
Here’s everything you need to do:-
1. Define Your Business Objectives And Requirements
The first step is to define your business objectives and requirements. You can do this by having a clear idea of what you want to build and the problems you want to solve.
Think about:-
- Your current pain points and challenges
- Your desired outcomes and benefits
- Your priorities and constraints
Once you’ve got some answers to these questions, note them in a document that you can later use as a guide for choosing the solutions that work best for you.
2. Research The Market
The next step is to research the market and compare your options. Once you have defined your objectives and requirements, you can start searching for software solutions that meet your criteria.
Where you look for inspiration and information is entirely up to you. For instance, you could try:-
- Blogs
- Review sites
- Forums
- Technology publishers
- Social media
- Other businesses
- Recommendations from peers and partners
- Industry experts
You should eventually build up a sense of who offers what, and which options work best for you. Don’t forget to compare all the features to decide which product fits into your operations.
3. Request A Free Demo
Another excellent strategy when choosing software is to request a free demo. You want to try products before you commit to them.
A demo will allow you to see how the software works in action and ask questions to the vendor.
You can also request a trial (which most software companies offer). These let you test the software in your own time for a few days (usually up to a month), to see if you like it.
You can play around with it in your personal environment, learning more about its functionality and performance in your business context.
A seven-day trial probably isn’t long enough to evaluate it fully, so you might want to ask for an extension.
You can also simply sign up for the first month and see how it goes once you integrate it into the rest of your systems.
Virtually all SaaS providers let you cancel at any time and don’t try to lock you into a contract.
4. Check The Vendor’s Reputation And Support
Another important factor to consider when choosing a software solution is the vendor’s reputation and support.
You want to work with a vendor who has a good reputation in the market, a solid customer base, and a strong financial position.
You don’t want to wind up in a situation where you can’t get the help you need to keep your operations running smoothly.
Start by checking what other firms who use the software say about the vendor. Find out if they’ve had any issues getting the help they need.
Then check their website for their support terms and conditions. Look for how much interaction you’re entitled to, and whether it’s something you can adjust, depending on the payments you offer.
Also, make sure that the vendor is willing to talk to you through your preferred medium.
Check that they offer phone, email, and text chat support, and a ticketing system that lets you get seen quickly.
You can also check their sites for educational material, FAQs, and explanatory webinars covering major troubleshooting issues.
5. Don’t Be Afraid To Negotiate
Once you have narrowed down your options to a few software solutions that meet your needs and expectations, you can negotiate the contract and the price with the vendor.
Many will offer a fixed price for their services, but there is usually room to maneuver at the enterprise level.
For instance, you’ll often see fixed prices for entry-level products and then “call us” CTAs for bigger accounts. Always call and set out your position.
If you’re not planning on using many server resources, you can sometimes negotiate a lower price and get a better deal.
You should also check what’s in the agreement you sign. For instance, you should understand the product’s:-
- Security features
- Data ownership policies
- Guarantees
- Service level and uptime
- Privacy tools
- Maintenance
- Update schedule
Be careful. Some software developers can reserve the right to pull the plug at any time, whether for
6. Prepare For Implementation
After you sign the contract with the vendor or sign up for their services, you’ll need to prepare for implementation. This means having a plan for how you’ll use the software solution effectively.
This process begins by assigning roles and responsibilities to your team members who will be involved in the implementation process.
You’ll need to clearly instruct them on what you want them to do, and provide training if necessary.
Be clear on your expectations and what you want the software to achieve so they can deliver meaningful results that matter to your firm.
When planning and preparing, don’t forget to back up your data. Ensure that you have a server somewhere where you can recover information if you lose it accidentally because of team errors.
7. Follow Data Management And Integration Best Practices
The next step is to follow data management and integration best practices.
You want to implement your data solution to migrate your existing data from your old system to your new system without losing or compromising any information.
You also need to integrate your new system with the other systems and applications that you use in your business operations.
This might sound complicated, but it’s something you can achieve with the support of specialist contractors.
They can explain the process to you and how to do it safely, while minimizing the risk of loss.
When migrating data, always follow best practices. Ensure you:-
- Use APIs or middleware when integrating data into existing series
- Test your data quality following migration
- Only use secure protocols when migrating data and shield information from internet access
- Clean your data before moving it
Again, if you don’t know how to implement the points in this list, you can get professionals to help you.
Data transfer management needs to be done legally and correctly to avoid high clean-up bills and brand damage in the future.
8. Follow And Evaluate The Progress Of Your Results
The next step is to monitor and evaluate the implementation progress and results. You need to find out whether your new software is making a meaningful difference on the ground.
Systems like BuildOps field service management make this easy to do within the app. That’s because these sorts of SaaS have measurement features and metrics built-in. However, for other products, you may need to find ad hoc solutions.
For instance, find some KPIs that will let you track how well the new software performs. You could keep tabs on the number of tasks a desk worker completes in an hour, or the amount of revenue you can generate from marketing.
Make sure it is something concrete that relates to the money your business can earn, or the amount by which it reduces costs.
In general, don’t be afraid to use software to reduce costs. A company that reduces expenses from 95% to 90% of revenue doubles its profitability.
9. Keep Tabs On Issues And Challenges
Next, make sure you keep tabs on issues and challenges. It doesn’t matter how well you plan and prepare for software implementation, you will likely encounter several issues along the way.
As such, you’ll want to prepare for them in advance so you don’t wind up with a series of headaches on your hands.
Here’s what to do:-
- Put a contingency plan in place – figure out what you’ll do if things go belly up
- Assemble a crack team that can deal with issues and challenges as soon as they arise
- Figure out how you’ll manage potential operations risks during the launch
- Talk to your vendor about common issues reported to them – they may offer guidance on preventative strategies you can use
10. Celebrate Your Successes
Implementing new software is no small feat. When you celebrate your successes, you reinforce that you achieved your desired outcome.
You should also plan for continuous improvement and optimization of the software solution.
Don’t be afraid to continuously update and upgrade software in your stack as new capabilities become available.
Keep monitoring and evaluating the performance and make sure that it remains in line with your corporate objectives.
Double-check that it’s having a real-world effect on your business operations and that it’s making a difference in how much revenue you are generating.
If you notice problems, suggest a fix. Most vendors will be more than happy to oblige.
