Organize Your stakeholders
The first step is to get your stakeholders in order. Every employee of your organization that has a vested interest or role in choosing software should be listed as a stakeholder. Here’s an example of who could be a stakeholder: your immediate team members, team managers, security team members, tech team members, and your customers.
How To Choose Your Software Needs
At this point, you have to figure out what you want from your new solution – features, functionality, workflow, etc. Here, there’s a divide between experienced buyers vs. first-time buyers. For each buyer type, the process is slightly different. As an
experienced buyer, there is familiarity with the software you want. You’ve used it before or you already have a solution that’s in need of an upgrade or replacement. When you have experience with solutions, you evaluate your current system. This includes – creating a list of what you like and dislike about the current system, outlining what you want to improve and how you imagine those improvements can be made.
Where To Find Business Software?
The actual search for a vendor differs from software to software. Some have well-known vendors that pop into your mind immediately when you think of particular software. Others are discovered through different sources.
Choose The Software You Would Like To Try
Once you have the vendor list in hand, it’s time to start contacting the ones you’re interested in. Usually, you would have a pretty long list of companies to contact (10-15), but it’s worth reaching out to as many as you can. If the vendor offers a demo, take it. When you’re taking the demo, keep these things in mind.
- Decide who should attend (refer your stakeholder doc) and ensure they’re available
- Be aware of the features you want
- Prepare the questions you want to ask
Software Vendor Evaluation And Selection Process
After the demo, there should be 3-5 vendors who will qualify. If you have more than 5 vendors on your list, be brutal and bring the list down to only 5. Present your findings to the head of the team or your CEO, or any other decision making authority. Include pros, cons, features, price, support team response, etc. in your report. Make your decision based on these reports.