Top Tips for Implementing New Software for your Business
Whether you’re considering an expense management tool for your employees or a completely new ERP or CRM system, you’re bound to go through the process of purchasing new technology for your business. Here are our top tips and insights for navigating the process.
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How to Find the Right Product and Vendor
When you begin the journey to purchase new software, you’ll likely follow a process that looks like this:
Step 1: Research
Before you start looking at software or talking to providers, it’s important to understand your needs, your budget, and your expectations. You should be able to answer all of the following questions before making a purchase:
What are the biggest problems we’re trying to solve?
What things do we want most from a new solution?
What parts of our business does the software need to manage?
What’s our budget for the initial purchase? For ongoing costs and maintenance?
When do we want a new tool in place?
Do we want to deploy it on our servers or in the cloud?
Do we want to connect it to any of our other business tools?
Can our team handle any of the setup?
What do we want from the software provider?
Don’t forget about your team during the research phase. Make sure you have a good understanding of what they do daily. Get their thoughts on their biggest pain points and what they’d most like to change about your existing system.
Now that you’ve done your due diligence and have a clear picture of your needs, it’s time to start looking for a solution to match.
Step 2: Discovery
Some software developers sell software directly to consumers, but others like Microsoft and Sage use third-party vendors for implementation. You may hear these companies called resellers, partners, ISPs (independent software providers), or VARs (value-added resellers). This is an opportunity to learn about the provider, not just the software.
Your partner will be responsible for software setup as well as ongoing system maintenance and support. When you first connect with a software provider, they’ll likely want an introductory meeting to learn about you and your business. They will dig into your roadblocks during this meeting and understand what you hope to achieve by purchasing new software. They might also ask about your budget and timeline expectations.
Each software partner offers a unique set of services and specializations. Here are some questions that can help you identify the best partner for your business.
How long have you been in business?
How much experience do you have working with this product?
What other capabilities do you have? Do you offer other products or services?
How much experience do you have working with companies like ours?
Do you have any references we can contact?
Describe your implementation process. What do you handle, and what will our team be responsible for?
How does training work?
What resources do you offer after implementation? What is the cost?
How does support work, and what is the cost?
How often is the software updated?
How do you handle upgrades?
How do you evaluate and plan for new features? Do you share your product roadmap with customers?
What’s the long-term strategy for your business and the product?
What’s your ownership structure?
What’s your culture like?
Step 3: Demo
A demo is your opportunity to see the software in action. It should be personalized to you and your business based on what you discussed with the software provider during discovery. It should be a live demo (not screenshots or a recorded video), and you should have the opportunity to ask questions and dig further into any component of the software.
Make sure all the key players participate in the demo:
- Search team:
anyone helping with the research and selection process
- Decision maker:
the person responsible for approving the purchase and budget
- Key users:
a few people who use your current software daily
- Technical team:
your IT team or anyone involved in the technical setup of the new tool
Evaluate the software using the list of criteria you developed during the research stage:
Does the product meet your top requirements?
What’s missing, and how critical is that functionality to you?
Are there areas where you need to dig deeper?
Do you feel confident your team will use the product?
Do you feel confident in the vendor?
Step 4: Purchase
Before signing on the dotted line, break down all the pricing details. In addition to the software cost, make sure you know the cost of the associated services (implementation, training, etc.) and ongoing support and maintenance costs. It’s also important to know what’s covered in the vendor’s implementation and support services and what isn’t.
