Selecting an integrated product to manage your company’s performance is a complex process with countless moving parts. And there are a wide array of vendors offering mind-boggling number of licensing, implementation, and maintenance options. But here are some tips to isolate some of those moving parts and zero in on the most seamless solution.
To get the most out of these questions, you should ideally know the answers to them before you reach out to your first prospective vendor. But, if you’ve already started shopping around, don’t worry. This advice should be helpful right up to signing up for the product.
#1. What is the growth rate of your company and what is the growth rate of your users?
The most important moving part to consider in vendor selection is the growth rate of your business and (by extension) the growth rate of the system’s users. You won’t just be buying for your current needs. You’ll also be shopping for your company’s needs at scale. More business = more transactions = more users = more complexity. And it’s very unlikely you will choose to go through this procurement process in the next 3–4 years. So you will need to be sure that the system can scale to your projected level of growth within that time frame.
#2. Which of your departments will be using the new system?
How many touchpoints will this solution have with your staff? Will this system be used by finance, sales, operations, or all of the above? This is important not only for knowing the number of seats you will need in your license, but also the client success features you will be looking for.
#3. Who will be managing the system?
Different solutions require different skills from system managers. And the technical skillset can vary widely among your team members. So you must ask yourself: will the responsibility for managing the system lie with your business team or your IT department? The system will have the added benefit of being more expandable if it allows for IT customization, but that added functionality will be lost on your company if you don’t have a dedicated IT department.
#4. Have you prioritized the budgeting and reporting features you will need in a new system?
Every business has its own budgeting and reporting nuances, making a one-size-fits-all solution next to impossible. You can use this checklist to prioritize budgeting and reporting features into need-to-haves and nice-to-haves and uncover the nuances where there may be coverage gaps in a specific solution.
#5. What is the appropriate budget for the desired system?
The last question you will want to ask yourself is “have I set the appropriate project budget?” And you want to think of the budget as a balance of the three key components of a solution — licensing, implementation, and ongoing maintenance. We recommend that you allocate 30% of the price of implementation towards annual ongoing maintenance so that you avoid a scenario where you have more product than support.
This article is contributed by Finance Transformation Specialist Ramya Krishnaganth, UVID Consulting.
