As your business grows, there’s always a team or two that will be trying to find new software. Whether it’s to replace a system you’ve outgrown or discover a new solution to help streamline the ineffective process. However, the hunt isn’t always as easy. Here are a few tips on selecting the best software for your team:
Organizing Stakeholders
Get your stakeholders in order, as every member of your organization that has a vested interest or role in choosing the software should be included in the decision, no matter who they are.
Choose Your Software Needs
For each software buyer, the process is a little different. An experienced buyer has some familiarity with the software they want. They’ve used it before or already have a solution that’s in need of an upgrade or replacement. When one already has experience with solutions, they evaluate their current system.
Where to Find Software
The actual search for a software vendor differs for each piece of software. Some have very well-known vendors that pop into your mind immediately while others need a deeper dig and are discovered through a variety of sources.
Demo and Trial of The Software
With a vendor list in hand, it is now time to start contacting the ones you’re interested in. Usually, you’d have a pretty long list of companies to contact, but it’s worth reaching out to as many as you can.
If a vendor offers a demo, take it. You get the most and best value from a product only when you’ve seen someone who knows it inside out, explain what it can do for you.
Evaluating Software Vendors
After the product demo, there should be around 3-5 vendors who stand out as your favorites. These are the ones you should decide to try. If you have more than 5 vendors on your list, be brutal since you can’t do a free trial for all of them.
Selecting the Software Vendor
At this point, you should have your top pick and from here, it’s up to you to make a case for it to your final stakeholders. Depending on the team and the software, present your findings to the head of the team, CEO, and any other team members involved with a focus on pros, cons, features, price, support team response. After all these steps, you should end up with a software that best fits your business’s needs.