By smallbiztrends, Guest Blogger (originally published at: https://www.sba.gov/blogs/checklist-choosing-business-software)
Good software can enable your small business to increase sales by saving time and money while expanding capacity.
But you must choose wisely — because the wrong software can be an expensive mistake.
Here is my tried-and-true checklist for choosing software to support your business operations:
Testimonials from Businesses Like Mine
Find vendors with a meaningful number of testimonials from other small business owners. Look for testimonials from businesses like yours — businesses of roughly the same size, in similar industries and trying to solve similar problems.
A software package might work just fine for some businesses, however, it may not help fix your problem.
Financially Strong Vendor
For mission critical processes, I hesitate to put my company’s future in the hands of software or an app that may or may not be updated a year from now.
You see this problem with some mobile apps and content management system plugins. A year or two goes by and the plugins appear abandoned and don’t play nice with newer versions of the software. Plugins may have security issues that leave your business vulnerable to hackings. Or perhaps an app looked promising, but it’s still buggy and unreliable a year later. The more mission critical the need, the more you should insist on financially stable vendors that are committed to their software.
Easy to Use
When you use, for example, an inventory management package meant for large corporations, it might seem good because you’re getting lots of features and functionality. And isn’t more always better?
Not necessarily. If you have a small team, getting more features and functionality can leave you worse off. Why? Complexity.
Complexity means it can take your small team more time than they can spare to master the software because they wear six other hats. The result? Resentment, frustration, failure. Complexity also adds more cost to get the software installed and configured, — especially if you must hire a consultant to set it up or have to pay overtime.
Automation with Other Systems
Today you get the most value from cloud software that passes data and transactions automatically to other systems you use. Doing so lets you harness automation — and that saves money. The last thing you want is to have to manually re-enter data from one system to another.
Always look for software that integrates with other software in your business. Many vendors today list all third party integrations on their websites. Avoid developing your own custom integrations, because they can get costly.
Ability to Upgrade Seamlessly
Find software that meets your needs when you are small, but grows with you. When choosing software, I like to start with a simple affordable package, then upgrade to more features or capacity later. And you want to be able to do it seamlessly without switching vendors or going through a manual conversion process.
Free Trials and Low Risk Terms
Free trials enable you to do a hands-on evaluation for a week or two. After that, with a month-to-month payment plan, or the ability to cancel at any time, you’re not locked in. If the software doesn’t work out, you at least don’t have to be stuck paying for it long term.
Follow the above six checklist points and you too can improve your operations with software.
