It is no news that business management software, which is otherwise known as ERP (enterprise resource planning) unites the vital components of your business, giving you a greater understanding and up-to-date information about your business.
It also offers simple customization and easy access to allow your personnel to get data and information from anywhere and anytime.
Here Are The Seven Key Steps to Choose The Right Business Management Software For Your Business.
Need to Have a Clear Objective and Plan of Action
Your business needs to have a clear vision of what it wants to achieve and how to measure it, or else the project will fail from the start.
The plan of action of the project needs to be developed from the onset. It should incorporate key aspects like functions/features, expected costs, time of implementation, benefits to the company, limitations, etc.
Put Together a Project Team
Setting up a team with representatives of all key internal stakeholders to ensure smooth implementation of the project.
This will also serve as a way to drive buy-in from the personnel into the business management software.
Important Questions to Be Answered
When selecting the right vendor to implement the software, ask important such as,
· What is the actual cost of the software?
· Does the software match our business operations?
· How competent are the software vendor and their team?
· How long will it take to deploy the system?
· How flexible and customizable is the software?
· Are there any limitations e.g. technology, internal employee skill set, etc?
· Will it have remote working capabilities?
Do Software Demonstration
In the selection process for the business management software, it is important you carry out a product demonstration or proof of concept (POC).
This will help you have a practical view of how the software will address your organizational needs. In doing this, it is expected you have listed functional areas you want to see the software addressing, listing it down will make sure you’re reducing the number of unturned stones.
Request and Carryout Reference Checks
As part of the steps of choosing right, it important you request reference sites and make sure you carry due diligence on them by visiting, calling, or sending a questionnaire.
As a software vendor and implementing partner ourselves, we do get the request by prospects for reference sites similar to their industry or companies in other industries using the particular software. Request for reference checks come as “Testimonials, Case Studies, Questionnaires, Visitation and Placing of Calls”.
The Implementation Partner
Sometimes the software vendor differs from the implementation partner. In such a case, it is important you evaluate the implementation partner as well.
This is because you will work closely with such partner, and most likely the one to provide you support when you go live.
Ensure Proper Documentation With Legal Backing
After selecting your suitable vendor to deploy the ERP software, it is also important you back it up legally, it should cover areas like confidentiality, dispute resolution, liability, statement of work, software agreements, support agreements, insurance, and so on.
You should ensure each role and responsibility of the parties (your organization and software vendor/implementation partner) is well spelled out, to avoid conflict during implementation. This is a common occurrence.
Conclusively, it is advisable to get external independent help if you do not have in-house expertise, we both don’t want the project to fail.
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