How to Choose the Right Software System for Your Company : Part 2

Welcome back to the second part in a three-part blog series designed to help managers and glass/window/door company owners find the best software solution for their company. Part I covered the concerns of why people don’t change their old software and the first two steps in the strategy: Knowing Your Objective and Prioritizing Your Needs.

Today we’re going to cover Planning Your Strategy Steps (3 & 4):

• Create a Software Vendor Short List
• Validate Your Short List (aka Make Exclusions)

Step 3: Create a software vendor short list

At this point, we will throw spaghetti at the wall. In step 4, we’ll focus on the spaghetti that actually sticks. Right now, you should list every software system out there you know that services the glass, window and/or door industry. This list will include industry-specific companies and more general companies. Ways to find software suppliers, include Google searches, industry-specific magazines/websites/trade shows, competitors, suppliers and industry colleagues.

If you can afford it, this is a time to employ a research/consulting firm. They can help you develop a list of software providers, as well as criteria to grade potential software solutions, ask additional essential/conditional/nice-to-have questions, and eventually help you shortlist software suppliers.

As you search for a software supplier and narrow in on the specific software solution, keep in mind your company’s hardware needs. You need to have a firm understanding of:

• the technical components of your hardware
• internet speed into your building and connection to other buildings (if you have any)
• the manufacturing machines you are interfacing into, on premise or cloud servers and their specs, networking, and much more.

This information will be covered in more depth in Part III.

Step 4: Validate your short list (aka make exclusions)

Now we will start to see which spaghetti sticks to the wall and narrow the choices. In this step, you will whittle out unsuitable entries. Depending on your company, you will have different criteria by which to whittle out serious versus unsuitable software solutions. In our experience, a good place to start is as follows:

1. Technological preference
2. Budget
3. Connection

Based on these three criteria, you can possibly narrow your search quickly, but these criteria can also help open your eyes to flaws in your own search methodology. It is important to be open to feedback from outsiders, including customers, suppliers and software suppliers. Making a connection with team members on the software supplier side is undervalued but highly important in your search. Having an advocate on your side within the software supplier can be invaluable in your search and future partnership.

When you do exclude a software supplier, it is worth noting in your spreadsheet the reason(s). That way, if your requirements in the future change, you can re-examine the company as an option.

At this time, you could ask for virtual or in-person demonstrations to further narrow down your short list, which is vital to make the best decision possible. More on that in Step 5.

Having accomplished Steps 1-4, you should be ready to move onto the final two stages, which we’ll cover in the next blog.