As 2023 begins to wind down, and your organization starts planning and budgeting for 2024, conducting a thorough software evaluation to optimize your technology for the new year should be high on your priority list. During this final quarter, it is important to identify and address pain points impacting your financial and operational systems and processes. Use what you learn to prevent those pain points or bottlenecks from occurring in 2024.
Review and Address Pain Points
First, try to identify and qualify any pain points or bottlenecks of the last year. Was the accounting department spending too much time on manual processes? Was the warehouse staff relying on spreadsheets?
Write down all the areas where your operations could have been improved. The more exhaustive the list the better.
Choosing the Right Partner for a Software Evaluation
Now that you have documented your bottlenecks, it is time for a more technical assessment. A Software Evaluation will evaluate the specific issues you identified. It will then determine if your current business system is able to address these issues or if evaluating a new system is needed to help alleviate these and push your business to the next level.
Not just anyone can perform a true Software Evaluation though. Make sure to choose the right partner for evaluating your existing systems. They should understand your industry and its best practices. A partner knowledgeable about various software options is crucial.
Need, Want, Wishlist
Once the Software Evaluation is complete, compile all the information from the Pain Points and the checkup into a “need, want, wish list” document. Your needs are everything critical your business requires from software to operate day to day. Wants are the items that you would like your software and technology to do but it currently does not. Lastly, a wish list is all the things that you hope a software can do to automate processes for your business but are not critical operating needs.
This list can help you determine if your current technology and software system can meet all your needs, which “wants” it can handle (maybe with a little tweaking, training, or add-on modules), and whether your current business system will ever be able to handle anything on the wish list.
Reporting for Smarter Decision-Making
A key element to having the right software in place is whether it provides the visibility and reporting that your business needs to thrive. It is one thing for an employee to be able to see and do their job within the system, but it’s an entirely different thing to have management and ownership gain visibility into the business and enable them to make smarter business decisions based on real data. Having a software that can accomplish this seamlessly within the system is not only convenient but also efficient, resulting in significant time and cost savings for you and your team.
Software Evaluation Training & Support
Another overlooked component to having the right software is the level of training and support you and your team receive. If your team members are not adequately trained, you’ll lose out on key efficiencies and functionality. Working with a certified partner can accelerate the training and usage of your system.
Third-Party Assistance
Most businesses either do not know how to conduct an effective Software Evaluation or do not have the bandwidth to do it properly. Finding the right partner to assist in this is something that can prove invaluable. An unbiased look at your system with nothing but the best interest of your business can lead to innovative insights. Find a partner that not only understands your industry but also has experience with several different technologies and business systems and has a proven process for evaluating your software.
Happy New Year
Beyond the quality of the product or service you provide, continuous improvement is essential for remaining competitive in today’s business landscape. Businesses that constantly look to optimize their existing operations, technological infrastructure, and overall business model are setting themselves apart from the competition and unlocking increased growth opportunities.
World Synergy serves as your complete partner for ERP implementation and optimization as well as your overall infrastructure strategy. Our goal is to help you be the best you can and use technology to help get you there. It’s about helping you not just survive as an organization but THRIVE!
Schedule a quick 15-minute phone call with World Synergy that can help evaluate and assess your current business software. As a special bonus, we will even treat you to FREE coffee to enjoy after our chat. (via a Starbucks gift card). We understand the important role your business system plays in your overall success, especially entering a new year. Our team of experts can work with you to evaluate your software and identify gaps and areas for improvement. For more questions, click here to learn more.
