As consumers, we often do some research or at least a cross comparison between brands before making a big purchase. The same goes for purchasing software for your business operations. Of course, the best way to go about this is to seek an IT professional’s opinion. However, that may not be the most cost-effective option in some situations. If that is the case, then you should at least take a closer look at these five aspects of a software before making the purchase.
Responsiveness
In human-computer interactions, it is very important that the system is able to understand and carry out tasks within a given time. Ideally, the speed of the software should be as close to real-time as possible. The responsiveness of a software isn’t dependent on the speed of the hardware, so a software with poor responsiveness will still run very slowly even on a high-end machine. Likewise, even slow hardware can run responsive software.
Efficiency
A software is a tool designed to help you with your tasks and increase your productivity. Therefore, it is always better to go for a tool that can give you a greater result from the same amount of effort. Going along that line, the software shouldn’t make its users wait for too long to complete an action. This aspect is especially important if you have limited resources for your business operations, because then efficiency can be a potent multiplier of effort.
Clarity
When you introduce a new piece of software to your business operations, your staff members will need some time to learn how to use the system. However, if the software lacks clarity, the learning process can be slow, frustrating and detrimental to business. The interface of a software can greatly help or hinder clarity, so run a trial version for a test drive first. Where possible, have the staff members who will be using the software to try it out first and gather feedback from them.
Control & Certainty
So the software that you are looking at has good responsiveness, efficiency and clarity? Great! But does it integrate well with your current IT system, and is there a high percentage of guaranteed uptime? You need to have a certain level of control over the software in order to be sure of your position, direction and advantages. Optimization also needs to be carried out for security and reliability purposes in order to achieve this certainty.
Flexibility & Adaptability
Going by the assumption that you would like to see your business grow and expand over the years, then the last thing that you should take into consideration is the flexibility and adaptability of the software. Don’t be afraid to ask if the software is able to accommodate your future needs. At the very least, it should enable interoperability with other software in the future.
While this generally covers the basics of any software purchase, it is still better to have an IT professional’s opinion before reaching a decision. This is especially important for the purchase of any major software systems, as a wrong choice can result in huge losses for your company. If you’re not sure whether the software purchase is a major one, ask yourself the following questions:
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Will the software be used by a significant percentage of your staff?
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Will the software be used by more than one department within the company?
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Will the software integrate with other data systems?
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If this software experiences some downtime, will it have a significant impact on business operations?
Hope this helps! And feel free to ask us any questions that you might have in the comments below!
