Choosing the Right Vendor For Your Business

If there’s one thing many IT and operational professionals have in common, it’s their goal to make sure everything is running smoothly. When it comes down to it, you are faced with choosing the right software and latest technologies to help aid your team in their day to day tasks as well as your own. Or it may be to help your company itself. There are so many different vendors out there now that all offer similar solutions; it can be difficult to decipher which is the right fit for you. What the software offers should be exactly what you need. After all, the whole reason you are choosing this software is so that there can be less friction, not more complications. We have put together some tips and strategies to put into place when selecting the right software vendor for your company.

The first thing you should do is, put together a list of the needs you have, the requirements you absolutely must have, and the things you can live without. Having this list ready will help when it comes down to comparing features. On this list, also include the price range you are trying to stay in. When speaking to a vendor, ask them if they have different tiers of pricing and if they offer customized pricing for what you need. Beware of overspending and ending up with features you do not need as well as any hidden fees. Will they offer a free trial? This way, you can explore the features and see if it is a good fit.

Do you need this software right away? Implementation time could be a huge factor in which software to bring into your company. Is it going to take multiple weeks for employees to figure out the new system? Is it user-friendly? This is supposed to help aid their work, not take away from productivity.

Do they have a customer service team? If something goes wrong, are there limited hours in which you can get support? The main thing to look out for here is that no matter which pricing structure you choose.

Look at reviews. There are many sites out there that are made for reviewing software platforms. Some of them include; Capterra, G2, and Software Advice. These would be great resources to see what others think about the software you are considering. Some vendors even let you speak to their actual customers to hear how they are using the product.

At the end of the day, when choosing a vendor, the best thing to do is stay open-minded. As long as you do your research and make sure they can align with your goals, choosing the right software for your company will be a little easier than you may think.