Studies show that there are more than 33 million small businesses in the United States. With so many businesses, it’s difficult for an entrepreneur to find a way to stand out. How can you help your business grow and become successful enough to stand out amongst the masses?
Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur or the CEO of a corporation, effective business software is critical. Read on for a quick overview of what mistakes in picking software to avoid when exploring your options.
Why Bother With Software?
To begin, why should you look into the plethora of options for software? What features could benefit your company enough to bother with the growing pains of new tools?
There are countless benefits to effective business software for your company. Here are five of the most important pros to finding the right software.
Better Efficiency
The first thing that many managers and entrepreneurs consider is the efficiency of their operations. With so many tasks to juggle, it’s not easy to find ways to improve efficiency.
With the right business software, efficiency will improve dramatically. Consider the tools that come with the software and how your team can use them.
At the same time, this factor makes finding good software all the more important. If you implement software only to find it clunky, bloated, and inefficient, you’re doing more harm than good. Perform some thorough research to ensure you’re finding the right software.
Happier Employees
Another critical factor for a company is the health of its employees. Employee health is more than physical well-being, it’s also mental well-being. Thankfully, effective business software can help with both.
Many people have the unfortunate experience of working with a company with ineffective software. Bad software is stressful, annoying, and hard to work with.
These issues lead to stressed-out and aggravated employees. They’re less productive and resent having to battle software throughout their workday.
Effective and useful software has the opposite effect. Software that’s easy to work with will reduce stress and improve mental well-being. The reduction in stress will help their mood, physical health, and many other factors.
Keeping Up With Trends
For some businesses, especially hospitality or food and beverage, trends are critical.
But when it comes to picking software, there are many adaptations you’ll want to make. Are you keeping up with the productivity trends your workers expect? Is your outdated software lacking the features that new hires expect and prefer?
Business software features change as time goes on, and adapting to these changes is critical. Ensure your company is making the changes it needs to make as the industry grows.
Maximizing Profits
Any good business owner knows that you need to spend money to make money. With that in mind, the cost of installing new software is less daunting.
Good business software will help you to maximize your company’s profits. Your workers are more efficient and happier to carry out their tasks. With improved efficiency, your company can accomplish more in a shorter time.
As your team adapts to their new toolset, you can take on larger and more profitable tasks. You’ll help your company grow financially with software that provides the features you need.
Growing the Business
Speaking of growing, few people form a business with the intention of staying small. While a corner store boutique doesn’t need to worry about expanding, most companies will want to grow in time.
Effective software is critical in helping facilitate this growth. By improving efficiency, you’ll be free to move your attention toward growing your company.
Furthermore, effective software will help organize this change. Studies show that companies and startups often fail after their first big “growth spurt” of expansion. The primary reason for this is getting in over their head and not having the proper organization.
Picking the right software will give you the tools you need to make these movements safely. Make sure you’re looking into features that will give your company the tools it needs.
Ten Mistakes in Picking Software
Now that we have a better understanding of software’s benefits, we can see why it’s necessary. But how can you avoid the common mistakes in picking software for your company?
Here are the ten most common mistakes in picking software.
1. Making an Uninformed Choice
Researching your options thoroughly can help you avoid some of the many mistakes in picking software. Look into the business that provides the software and other competitors.
You want don’t select a company that’s a headache to work with. You may also be paying more simply because they’re a “name brand” company.
Making an uninformed choice functions more like a gamble, and gambling with your company’s future is never a good idea. If you aren’t comfortable researching software, set someone on your team toward the task instead. They can focus solely on finding the best choice and report back with a list of options for the software.
2. Not Understanding Software Choices
Once you have your choices, your task of making an informed choice isn’t done. You’ll need to work toward understanding the software choices as well.
Understanding software is difficult, as many software tools are specific to an industry. Furthermore, you may need to understand the field that the tools are meant for.
Is this always necessary? Will the accounting team need to understand how the sales team’s tools work? Similarly, why do you need to know how your employees complete their job so long as it’s being done?
When it comes to an informed decision, understanding how the software works is critical. If you aren’t certain you can understand how the software works, rely on your team’s expertise instead.
Consider speaking with the manager or team leader of the branch that’s having new software installed. Have them keep you informed of the progress while they work toward a perfect choice.
One thing for your team to look out for is redundancies. Is it important for your company to have software bloated with features for every situation?
While having more “tools” in software sounds ideal, you end up paying for features you’ll never use. Such an issue inflates the cost dramatically while harming productivity. A bloat of tools can lead to your employees not knowing which to use.
3. Failing to Understand the Business’s Needs
Regardless of understanding the tools, you’ll need to understand your business’s needs. While looking for options for software, knowing what option best serves your company is vital.
Being aware of what your business needs will help you narrow your search. If you know what features most benefit your team, you can focus solely on those features. Such knowledge will also help you avoid feature bloat.
If you aren’t certain of your company’s needs, rely on your team. Discuss what each team needs to succeed and make a choice with the information you’re given.
Are you a solorepreneur working without a team? Deciding the business’s needs fall to you. Think of what features you use most, which you ignore, and which you’ve found yourself wanting in the past.
4. Focusing on Costs
With any company, the first thing on the board is profit. You can’t keep operating if the lights go off, so cutting costs where possible is always tempting.
Part of making an informed decision is understanding which costs are necessary. Many of us believe that the most expensive option is often the best. With software, this rarely proves true.
The most expensive software may be the one with the most features. Once you put the software into practice, you find that 75% of the features you paid for aren’t something your team needs. Now you’ve spent more than necessary for a product you can’t use.
On the other hand, if you go for the cheapest software, it may be cheap due to a lack of features. Cutting costs feels nice at the time, but a few months down the road, you find your team is significantly dropping in efficiency. The software you saved a few thousand dollars on barely functions and is missing needed features.
A great way to cut costs is to look for deals and discounts. You can find great deals on popular software such as Microsoft Remote Desktop or Excel on many sites. Take the time to look for cheaper options when you can.
Make an informed decision to see what costs are worth adding to your budget. It’s always better to have software with a few extra features than one missing critical functionality.
5. Ignoring the Team’s Input
The people most affected by your new business software provider are the teams using the software. As such, it’s sensible and necessary to include their input into the choice.
Ask your team what features they would most want from a new software. Use these answers to start comparing software costs and find options for software that fulfill their needs.
If the team has been calling for changes for years and your new software doesn’t satisfy those desires, your team may become frustrated. Take their feedback to heart and consider what will make them the most effective.
6. Overlooking User Experience Factors
A vital factor in the team’s input is to look at the user experience. User experience, often written as UX, is the experience that the software’s user has while operating the software.
UX often includes quality-of-life changes, functionality, and necessary features. Don’t overlook factors that make the software easier to use. The easier the software is to use, the happier and more productive your team will be.
7. Planning Only for Short-Term Factors
It’s tempting to focus on the short term for a company, particularly when you’re just getting started. The need to keep the bills paid and the team satisfied can make it difficult to think of the future.
If you only plan for the short term, you may find yourself out of luck when the future comes. Do your best to keep both in mind while you’re searching for software.
8. Switching Software Too Frequently
If you’ve found yourself with software that doesn’t fit your needs, you may want to change. Maybe your current software is great, but a change would lead to the perfect software.
While it’s often tempting to switch software, think of your team. Changing tools means months of working toward expertise and mastery. Try not to switch software too often so your team can remain efficient.
9. Not Thinking of Customer Service
When looking into a tool, try to think of the company behind the software. Comparing software costs leads us to look at the price tag rather than the company.
Customer service is a critical part of your new software. Will the company behind it be able to help if something happens during the operation? Research what experiences others have had with the company to find out.
10. Implementing Before Trying
Finally, it’s important to try the software before purchasing it. See what sort of support the software has, such as regular software updates or additional features.
Making a purchase without trying can lead to unforeseen consequences. Trying it first will also help your team learn how to use the new software.
Finding the Best Business Software Provider
Avoiding mistakes in picking software feels complex, but an informed decision will keep you out of most pitfalls. Rely on your team or your research when exploring your options for the software. Do your best not to focus solely on comparing software costs and look instead at business software features.
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