Software Buying Guide of 2024

Introduction

We hope you’ve arrived at the right place to begin your software search.

Whether it is a small business or an enterprise, running a business is not easy.  Your employees do a lot of work every day to run your business,  and you need to streamline their work to make them work efficiently. All you need is a software buying guide, the right tools and metrics to track them from your convenient place. 

This is where software steps in, and the right one can help you track your business activities and provide actionable insight that you can leverage to optimize your business process.

Software Buying Guide – Steps Involved

Step 1: Identify your Business Problem

The most important step in selecting new software is first understanding your business needs and the problem you’re trying to solve with the new software. The problems may be streamlining the workflow or improving the efficiency of the existing business process. 

The best way to identify the problem is to get feedback from the team members about the current software and its pros & cons. It will help you gain an understanding of the problems from their perspective. After gathering the feedback, you have to determine whether there is a strong business reason to invest in the new software.

Try to answer the following question to identify the business needs,

• What are my short-term & long-term business goals?
• Is my current software slowing down or affecting the business operation?
• Does a new software improve the efficiency of the business operation?
• What’s the budget for the new software?

Knowing your business needs will help you get closer to the right software.

Related Read: Best Software for Small Business in 2024

Step 2: Define Your Software Requirements

The next step in finding the right software is creating your list of requirements. It can include everything from features, functionality, cost, and more. 

There are hundreds of software products designed to address your business problem. This requirement list will act as your guide to filtering the software that does not meet your business requirements. 

Below are some of the requirements you should consider,

• Must-have Features
• Number of users
• Integrations with other tools
• Deployment & Scalability
• Post-purchase support
• Pricing & other costs

Step 3: Determine Your Budget

The next step after listing your requirements is to determine the budget for the new software to solve your business problem. You have to consider the total cost of ownership (TCO), which includes the licensing cost, and direct & indirect costs of the software product you’re looking to invest in.

The licensing costs will likely vary greatly depending on how you want to deploy the software and based on the number of users that need access to the software. 

The direct cost of the software products includes the initial setup and annual maintenance fees. The annual maintenance fees depend on how are licensing model you are planning to opt for. On-premises software is generally considered a capital expense — except for the annual maintenance costs — while SaaS is considered an operational expense. 

You have to consider the other data migration, training, and hardware costs while calculating the TCO.

Step 4: Shortlist the Potential Vendors

You’ve now identified the business needs, defined the requirements, and determined the budget. It’s time to shortlist the software products that will work for you and your team.

You can use a variety of information available on the internet to find potential vendors or ask for referrals from other businesses that are like yours. Users who have bad experiences with the software they have used have shared their negative reviews in online forums or review sites. 

User reviews can help you cut through the marketing noise and see what it’s like to use a certain software solution in real-time. Sometimes the software UI looks clean & good but the stability of the software and customer support service may not be as good as promised. 

Finalize the list of products that are still viable and offer the best value for the money. Rank them in the order that you think would work for you at best.

Step 5: Evaluate & Demo the Shortlisted Vendors

Now it’s time to send a request for proposal to potential vendors and ask them to give a presentation for your business requirements. Visit the vendor website and schedule a demo at your convenience. Before the demo make sure you have collected enough information about their product. Also, note down the features that are missing but you actually need them.

You have to evaluate each potential vendor based on their Capability, Scalability, Future roadmap, Licensing, Pricing, Deployment, Integrations, Training, and Post-sales support.

To get the most out of each demo and avoid getting distracted by the vendor’s marketing pitch, consider providing the vendor with a real problem you are facing and ask them how their software products would solve it. Also, inquire about how they will address any future issues.

After the demo, you may likely change the ranking of the shortlisted vendors. Remove the items that didn’t work for you from your list. At this point in time, it is always recommended to keep only 3 to 5 vendors. 

Step 6: Trial the Selected Software

Almost every software comes with 14 days to 30 days of trial. Make use of this trial period to test the software. Evaluate the software completely to confirm whether it solves your business problem or improves the efficiency of the existing process. It can help you better understand what the product can actually do for you, and how it functions in real-time. 

Not only the product but also the customer service should be thoroughly tested. Some vendors seem to have good products but offer terrible support. During this trial period, try contacting customer support with questions, problems, and technical difficulties. This will give a clear idea of how their support team works and resolve your critical problem.

Step 7: Making the Final Decision

There are a few things to be aware of before you sign the contract and send the first official payment,

Make sure you’ve communicated with the vendor about the terms & conditions before you sign the contract and send in that first official payment. Discuss the payment plans, discounts, promo that your business might qualify and other post-sales responsibilities.

You’ll need to notify the other vendors that you didn’t choose and that you’ve made your decision. Respectful and complementary interactions are required. If your current vendor does not work out, you do not want to rule out the possibility of working with them again in the future.