Software Selection Consulting: 4 Steps to Pick the Right Firm

Buying enterprise software is not something business organizations do regularly. So, without proper experience in the field, it is challenging to make the right decision about selecting software. Now, software vendors don’t help much in the evaluating phase, considering how they constantly try to pitch in clients and customers for their products. They mainly present biased information about different software, describing how each comes with tons of benefits.

In such a scenario, understand which software provides unique organizational benefits by hiring software selection consulting firms. These consultancy firms have technology consultants who have professional experience and knowledge. Their role is to provide impartial guidance to companies hiring them to push them on the right track. With their service, your company can choose the right enterprise software.

However, the industry today is saturated with these consultancy firms everywhere. Some of them work perfectly in addressing and understanding your company’s functional requirements, while others don’t. Businesses must understand that selecting a software consultant is equally crucial as selecting the software itself.

Follow the top criteria for finding the right consultancy firm in this article.

Why is it Essential to Hire the Right Consultant?

Your company needs a software consultant who shares the same vision as you. Unless the firm understands what breaks or builds your company, they won’t be able to translate your requirements to find the right solution. A professional consultant will have a dedicated project management team to guide you through the selection process.

The keys to finding such a consultant are confined in the points below.

1. Similar Working Domain

Always work with those who are from the same industry. Hiring a consultancy firm that has supported organizations from the same industry domain will help you get solutions faster. After all, business processes are what define a company. So, consultancy firms that work in different industries might not be able to provide solutions that fit your company’s project or industry. Moreover, professional consultants of your industry domain will also have a better understanding of the nuances of the sector.

2. Focusing on Cost-Effectiveness

It is never easy for a startup or medium-sized company to meet hefty software charges. Software development is itself an expensive department to deal with. So, businesses must do everything to keep the expenses down, regardless of the project concerned.

Discuss your company’s objectives, budget, and requirements with the consulting firm. Make them understand what kind of software the project demands. Based on the discussions, ask them to provide a list of probable software fit for the purpose. The right one should balance the best price and the best offerings.

3. Integrating Front and Back-end Systems

A company’s software consultant should not have relevant expertise only in one area, i.e., ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). They should understand the values of integrating other systems, including CRM (Customer Relationship Management), SCM (Supply Chain Management), HCM (Human Capital Management), and so on.

The key to maximizing ROI lies in the software handling of both front and back-end systems. Therefore, finding a consultancy firm with relevant system integration experience is crucial. Some companies seek multiple consultants for each system, which is not wise to root for. Instead, businesses should focus on hiring a one-stop solution that can partner with the organization for its long-term software success.

4. Market Experience

Consultancy firms new to the industry might ask for highly affordable service charges. Businesses with a small budget might want to join hands with such a company, which they should not. This is because software selection consultants should ensure unbiased views about different software for your company’s requirements.

But, if the company itself is a new contender in the market, they might not have enough experience to share unbiased views with your brand. Instead, their suggestions will also be partially biased and inclined to the software they have known in their short span in the market. Therefore, brands must ensure they hire an experienced consultancy firm.

Conclusion

A software selection consulting firm should be able to –

• Understand what your business’ functional requirements are.
• Provide unbiased, practical information about different enterprise software.
• Perform their own research to understand how the software will add value to your company.
• Take complete responsibility for the selection process and its implementation.
• Understand how the software can integrate multiple systems like ERP, CRM, HCM, etc.

In other words, a software selection consultancy firm should be capable enough to go above and beyond software implementation and work as a partner for business development. The right application will specialize in CRM, market automation, ERP, eCommerce, and other integrations.