Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing Software Solutions
When you run a business, you make a lot of important decisions. You decide whom to hire (and whom to fire), where to allocate your resources, and how to price goods and services for your customers and clients. Frequently, you’ll have to make decisions with the goal of helping your business run more efficiently — and, nearly as frequently, the wrong decisions will lead to a less efficient and less effective company, undermining your primary goal.
Software solutions are a great example. When you choose the perfect software solution for your business, you’ll save a lot of time and money. Software can streamline complex processes, speed up the performance of repetitive tasks, and even take the place of expensive employees. But software solutions are also not cheap, and if you pick the wrong one, you could end up with a clumsy and overpriced “solution” that does more harm than good to your business’ bottom line.
When it comes time to choose a software solution for your business, avoid these mistakes. If you do, you’ll have a better chance of getting the right solution and bringing big benefits to your business.
Not reading the reviews
Software solutions aren’t exactly Amazon products (well, sometimes they are, but you know what we mean) — they don’t come listed with tons of objective customer reviews. But if you take the time to search out software reviews on trusted software review websites, then you’ll learn much more about your potential solutions.
You’re not the only business leader searching for the right software solution for your type of customer. You’re not the first person to be in this situation, and you won’t be the last. And those who have gone before you have left valuable advice in the form of online reviews. So know where to look — reputable sites such as TrustRadius — and go read those reviews to get the information that you need to put your business on the right track.
Ignoring customization options and bespoke solutions
When you’re a small business, you want to keep costs low. Naturally, the most affordable software solutions on the market are the ones that are “one size fits all.” Sure, every software solution claims to be extremely customizable (and some certainly are), but the most affordable way to make a software program is to make one program for everyone, and that is what a lot of companies do.
But some companies offer solutions that are customized to your business’ needs. That may or may not be necessary, depending on what sort of work your business does and what sort of things you are looking for in a software solution. But don’t rule out custom solutions, whether they be customized versions of existing programs or totally new software solutions. While they may be pricier, they could save money for your business down the line by being more efficient and better-suited to the tasks you need to handle.
Skipping out on training
Great software solutions can be pretty intuitive, but make no mistake — you and your employees need training to use your new software to its fullest potential. Invest in proper training and keep everyone up to speed by occasionally checking in with further training programs.
Users can hold back programs and entire systems, which is why programmers work hard to design their software solutions with usability in mind. But you need to do your part, too. You need to make sure that you and your employees are as proficient as possible with your software solution of choice. No matter what sort of software you’re using, you’ll get more out of it with a property trained workforce.
