As a no-code software vendor, we have witnessed organisations that have chosen a business solution based on the cost and have found that the system doesn’t meet their expectations and often wastes valuable time, budget, and resources. This blog explains why business systems should always be evaluated with a focus on the value provided against the cost of purchase.
Return On Investment
Business systems deliver a tangible return on investment (ROI) when they save a company money, time or resource. For example, if you implement a solution that increases the capacity of a small team and removes the need to recruit another team member, you can attribute that saving to the investment in a software platform. If you calculate the savings, you will receive from your desired solution it will provide you with the insight required to make a purchasing decision based on value over cost.
Speed Of Delivery
Time to market may offer organisations a competitive advantage and therefore increasing their brand and reputation in the marketplace. Alternatively, businesses may implement a solution quickly to solve an issue that is costing a significant amount of time, money or resource. Finding a system that meets your requirements and can deliver in your time frame might seem like an impossible task but there are vendors like Excelpoint that have completed many projects like this.
Automation
Process automation streamlines operations and solves inefficiencies resulting in more efficient operations within organisations. Systems should be designed to eliminate time-wasting tasks to increase the productivity of your workforce and maximise your output for the cost you incur or for the resource you have available. If you are opting for a solution because it has the lowest price tag automation may be something that you lose, and this could have an adverse impact on your business. Automation can be used to output documents, keep systems up to date and in line with each other, keep your clients informed of where they are in your process or even to chase customers to ensure timely payment of outstanding invoices.
Excelpoint has used automation to solve a range of issues for customers including product delivery, project management, customer service and sickness and absence.
Scalability and Flexibility
Growing companies require systems that can quickly adapt and scale to suit expanding operations. Some off the shelf business systems that may have been the most viable solution at the time may need to be upgraded to more expensive versions. Also, making adaptions to a bespoke solution can be a lengthy and costly process which a growing business cannot afford either in time or money.
It is important to implement systems that can easily adapt to suit your changing business needs, the world doesn’t stand still and neither should your systems and processes. If you chose a low-cost solution that provides no flexibility or ability to control how your system works you will find that you will become limited by the software in the future or worse have to work the way the software works even though it doesn’t reflect your business operations.
Integration
System integration can be vital to streamlining business operations and processes, companies with complex system landscapes and numerous platforms require high integration capabilities from any future solutions. Low-cost business systems usually do not provide integration capabilities, or these come at a significant additional cost. Always evaluate the charges for system integration during the evaluation process as you don’t want to fall into the common trap of creating silos of information and systems that don’t talk to each other.
Single Use Software
Single-use products contribute to the problem of silos of information. It is a very typical scenario where product A is purchased to answer a business need, product B to solve another and C for another purpose. As these products have been developed to solve specific business problems and very often from different vendors they don’t communicate with each other and exchange data in a meaningful way to the company. Repeated investments are made in a variety of products, and this merely exacerbates the problem rather than adopting a strategy to eradicate this issue. Savvy organisations understand the benefits associated with having multi-purpose software and all of the advantages this brings. In the value vs price equation, this can be an influential factor to consider.
Repeated investments are made in a variety of products, and this merely exacerbates the problem rather than adopting a strategy to eradicate this issue. Savvy organisations understand the benefits associated with having multi-purpose software and all of the advantages this brings. In the value vs price equation, this can be an influential factor to consider.
Accessibility
In the modern world, accessing information from anywhere at any time is crucial to your customers and your employees. Business systems are an essential component to meeting these high expectations, by providing real-time visibility and access for users. That’s why it’s important for your company to use a platform that provides full accessibility for your employees, and possibly your customers and suppliers too, across a variety of channels. Users should have access to information at their desk, out and about via mobile devices, while they are online and even when they are offline. Communications between users and the system should also embrace many channels including conventional methods such as lists and queue’s, emails, text messages but also push notifications to mobile app’s, social media feeds and web site integration.
Users should have access to information at their desk, out and about via mobile devices, while they are online and even when they are offline. Communications between users and the system should embrace a variety of channels including conventional methods such as lists and queues, emails, text messages but also push notifications to mobile apps, social media feeds and website integration.
Migration
In some situations customers may have existing systems and the ability to migrate data from old systems to replacement systems may prove difficult and therefore expensive. Consider whether the existing data needs to be migrated in its entirety or may the old database be retained as an archive. During migration the two primary factors to consider are:
- The format of data from old to new and therefore the transformation work that needs to take place.
- The accuracy and “usefulness” of the older data and therefore the associated data cleansing work required.
This can be a hidden cost which can be overlooked in the purchase process and can cause significant problems for both the customer and the new vendor.
Conclusion
Price and budget restrictions are always going to be a major factor when purchasing a system, and we are not recommending that you buy the most expensive business system on the market. But it’s important that you consider the above factors and the various capabilities of different solutions within your budget to determine which provides the best value for money for your requirements. Excelpoint’s no-code software provides business systems for organisations in a broad range of sectors and industries and from SMEs to large corporate household names, to learn more visit our solutions page. In short, it is very common to focus on price and not understand the value proposition – don’t fall into this trap.