Thinking of buyING SOFTWARE FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

If so, there can be a lot to consider.
It is common to see articles, blog posts and the like, which immediately launch into comparisons between different types of software.

I believe this is a mistake which can mislead businesses.

Although these comparisons are useful, initially, try to take a step back from this sort of information, and first look inwards, before looking outwards.

Your starting position should always be your specific characteristics, and requirements as a business, or department.
From this point, with a clear picture of what you need and why, you are simply following a process of elimination, based on your business drivers and commercial needs.
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Following this approach is far more likely to lead to a positive result.

Assuming that you've assessed the specific needs of your business, and the activities that you would like the software to perform for you, let’s take a look at 4 questions that you can ask yourself when thinking about purchasing software:

1. Do you wish to be able to “own” or adapt your software? 
Do you want the freedom to use the software “for life,” potentially holding it for as long as 3-10+ years?
Is it important to have the scope to adapt it now, or in the future, or to be able to connect (i.e. integrate) it with other systems?
If you wish to extend, or flex a product to meet your needs, this is less likely to be possible with “rented” SaaS products, (although moving up to a higher pricing tier may allow you to access a wider range of options.)
On the other hand, "ownership" (via a license that allows you more flexibility to modify the software, or the ability to hold it for a longer period) may not be the best option if:

• Your business is growing or changing quickly, and it might be better not to commit to a system for the long-term.
• You want to keep your options open. Better software is constantly coming onto the market via innovative vendors; many of them providing “free” software upgrades via the Software as a Service (SaaS) model.
• The cost of "ownership" is prohibitively expensive. (In chapter 5 we’ll discuss the point at which leasing may become more expensive than "owning" your software!)

2. How urgently do you require the software?
If a short sales cycle is needed, consider that for larger and more complex software systems, it can take weeks (or even many months) to:

• Assess and gather together requirements
• Research the software available on the market
• Co-ordinate product demonstrations and trials
• Address outstanding questions
• Confirm details of financing
• Review contracts and terms
• Carry out testing (user acceptance testing, or UAT) to confirm that it supports your key business processes in the way(s) that you expect
• Get staff trained up, and able to use the software correctly and to its fullest extent
• Install / implement the product and get it “set-up,” including any modifications to the software that you require. You may also need to factor in time to set up the hosting of the product and the transfer of data into the new system as part of your wider rollout plan.

In this case, “plug-and-play” cloud-based SaaS software that is hosted for you, or easy to install desktop products, will be much quicker to implement than self-hosted software, enterprise software that may require adjustments; usually referred to as customisation (code changes), or configuration (manual adjustments to fields, label names, menu options etc.) before you can use it, or bespoke software built for you from scratch. (We’ll explore these options in some detail later in this chapter.)

3. Is convenience, or control most important? 

• How critical is the software to the day-to-day running of your business?
• Are there legal, or regulatory requirements that you are bound to comply with? How severe would the consequences of non-compliance, hacking, or data theft be in terms of fines, loss of reputation, loss of business or compensation costs?
• What are your company’s data security requirements?
• Do you have the in-house expertise to host the product yourself so you can control your security and data storage and backup arrangements, and manage compliance measures internally? Will you need to outsource the job and find 3rd party suppliers to manage hosting for you?

If you are looking to buy business critical-software and have lots of data protection or other regulations to consider, then self-hosting or private cloud-based managed services will give you more control than outsourcing to 3rd parties, or using SaaS based software.
However, if you are less concerned about these items, then SaaS products are generally more convenient, with fewer set-up tasks required.

4. Do you seek highly-specialised functionality? 
How niche are your requirements?
If you are unable to find functionality that meets your needs on the open market, or you have masterminded a process, or technique that you want your software systems to reflect, you may wish to consider software that can be altered by a software provider, or decide to have a product built in-house, or by a 3rd party. (In the next chapter, we’ll cover some key points to review if you are thinking of having software built, including options that could expedite the build of your product.)
Copyright 2017 © K.N. Kukoyi. Purposeful Products.

This content was taken from the software buyer's survival guide: 
Don't Buy Software For Your Small Business Until You Read This Book:
A guide to choosing the right software for your SME & achieving a rapid return on your investment.

Now available on Amazon and featured on Kindle best-seller lists in Australia, Canada, France, the UK and US: bit.ly/SME-guide
Print versions of the book will be available from 18th June 2017.

You can access a free Business Requirements Assessment document in Word and Excel formats (1 of the 7 free resources provided to readers of the book) here: http://bit.ly/resource1-assessment

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