“What I see here is more flexibility than we will ever need”.
How often can you say that about the software vendors that support your business?
I speak to business managers every day and the same qualities they desire hold true every time; they want flexibility and a software service with the elasticity to move with their business.
And yet, it seems many are still suffering from rigid infrastructure and software systems.
Here are some points to consider when selecting a vendor and the software they offer to help ensure you get the flexibility you need to survive and grow.
They understand and genuinely care. Find a vendor that clearly demonstrates that they understand it is their responsibility to look after the long-term care of their clients. Those that genuinely care about your future well-being will take the time to understand your business and the underlying challenges you face.
Keep an open mind. Accept that you don’t know what you don’t know. Technology changes every day. Don’t try to fit the software in the way “you’ve always done it” but rather let them challenge you on how they would do it. Have a conversation every time you want to deviate from the available capabilities of your software services. There may be a better way.
Configuration vs Customisation. Always side on the part of configuration options where modifications for your needs are based on existing functionality. Customisation or addition of non- standard functionality may contribute to the lack of flexibility you are trying to avoid.
Past and Future history of innovation. Understand the vendors past and future experience with development and innovation. How has it grown? How much do they re-invest into R & D. What future opportunities do you have with the vendor from existing features? You don’t have to do everything today, but you can do it tomorrow if its available.
Cloud vs Hosted. Understand the difference between a true cloud service and software that may be hosted by your local IT partner. Not only are you adopting the risk profile of the IT partner you may be missing out on a more feature rich, secure, and specialised service with higher availability. Remove as many barriers to the use of the service, as possible. Ask yourself this; would you have your IT partner host Salesforce or Microsoft Teams for you?
