With so many business functions being reliant on software, and so many choices of software available, it’s not always easy to determine which will be best for your organisation.
Whether you’re looking at “line of business” software that is specific to your industry, or software to run your accounts, your payroll, your HR records or your CRM system, some key principles apply:
1. Consider Cloud-based software. The benefits are
- It is accessible from anywhere, by your authorised users. Particularly useful if some employees work remotely.
- Updates and patches are easily rolled out, often automatically.
- If all your software is Cloud-based then you can save on capital investment by dispensing with the need for a server.
2. Consider integration with other software.
- Will the software you’re looking to purchase need to “talk to” any other packages? For example a CRM package that needs to integrate with your accounts package. If so, what do the vendors say about that integration?
- Look at reviews from other companies using those packages – or find someone to speak with if possible – to see how effective they find that integration to be.
- Is there software available that might do more than one function – for example, both payroll and accounts, or both CRM and operations? This might mean you can reduce the number of different packages used.
3. Choose a solution with monthly subscriptions. The benefits are
- Assists with cashflow as there is no up-front capital outlay.
- If the model is a “per user” monthly charge, then it allows for easy scaling up or down, if employee numbers change.
4. Take advantage of free trials.
- They provide the opportunity to get an accurate experience on how well the software will perform actual tasks within your business, rather than just receiving a demonstration.
- If you trial more than one option, you can make your own comparisons based on real-life functionality.
- Make sure, though, that the trial isn’t linked to any long-term obligation in terms of subscription period or cost.
5. Seek the views of the people in your organisation who will be using the software:
- What have they used at previous companies they worked at? What do they think were the positives and negatives of each?
- Get them to use the software to complete their usual tasks during the software trial period – do the proposed packages contain all the required functions?
- Are they easy to use / intuitive? Will training be straightforward – both at the initial roll-out stage, and also for new people joining your company in the future?
Once the choice has been made, make sure that you have a good implementation plan which involves the relevant people in your company, and which allows time and resources for the thorough training of users.
HJS Technology is not a software specialist but we do come across a large number of solutions which are in use across our customer base. If you are considering taking on a new software package and would like to discuss it first, please give us a call or enter your contact details here.