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7.In an effort to meet your business needs how customizable is
system? If you require customizations to software to meet a specific need, a good rule of thumb is that it should be no more than a 1/3 of price of software price. Never forget that many times software companies will negotiate with you on customization. As a customer any software company worth your time should want to keep you happy. In some cases there may need to be some give and take by both parties. A good rule of thumb would be to always discuss your needs with movement directly. Gatekeepers tend to drag their feet at times. Purchasing software knowing that you will need to make major changes should be a sign that you really need to take a step back and look at all of your options including: in-house development, outsourcing, partnering with software developers to cut price.
8.What are typical hurdles that you can expect with your planned installation? No matter what generation (e.g. 1yr 2nd version, 10yrs 4th version and etc…) software is currently in, software company should at least be able to warn you of hurdles that they have experienced in implementations they have done. If not, this should raise a red flag for you. The software company should be keeping track of this type of information, especially if they are constantly attempting to improve their products. You will find that they sometimes run into same issues 2 or 3 times before they take notice and take action to investigate and resolve it before future installations.
9.What are hours of support and how does their support department operate? Whether you are across town or on other side of world, if you need help and support is not available to you, only option will be to take system down for an unknown length of time and wait for help. Before getting married to a software company by purchasing their product, find out where company is located and if company has what I define as a “passive” or “active” customer support system. Follow-up with pointed questions like, ”Will you only return my call at certain hours of day?” “Will I have to leave messages and wait at phone for your callback?” “Will I have a direct call back from a representative or will I be reassigned to someone different every time I call?” Finding this information out earlier rather then later should give you peace of mind when an urgent situation or quick answer is needed.
10.Ask if there is a list of items have been requested to be included in next update of software? If possible also request a date of completion for items on list. Before they say no, put them at ease by letting them know that your goal is find out what features they might be including so that you can plan ahead for your business. Chances are that if someone requested something, you also be able to make use of this feature. Also obtaining this list will benefit you in three other ways: 1.If you know that a feature is forthcoming, you can notify users beforehand and seek feedback from them on whether this is something they would like also. 2.If item on list is something need, be sure that you make it known to gatekeepers, with emails or phone calls to software company to ensure your item is not lost in shuffle, which happens more than you my realize. 3.When you are given such a list review it carefully, you should be able to determine direction that software company is going. Are they on a path dictated by their client requests? Are their frequently little items that are minor in nature on list? (Could be negligible depending on application) or Are their obvious items on list? (If this is case their testing practices may need to be reviewed to your satisfaction.) Or are they adding items in an effort to get you to purchase add-on items that you will never use?
Brett Johnson is the principal advisor and owner of Johnson Advisory Group. While dawning many hats with a leading training and compliance software developer he as succeeded in providing professional, and honest service to his many contacts. He has trained and consulted hundreds of companies both public and private businesses across the country on the pitfalls of software implementation.
