4 Tips for Choosing Business Software Platforms

perating a business is a lot of work, but the only way out is up once it’s off the ground. Your company’s growth often comes with the need to find new software to support all the processes. You might have a team or two searching for the ideal software to replace the one you’ve outgrown or to help you solve new solutions you encounter more effectively. No matter your needs and reasons for looking for new software, there are some questions you will think about, which may leave you stuck at the crossroads.

So, how can you be confident in your search for the best software platform to support your business? This article seeks to give you all the answers.

Table of Contents

1. Try to meet with stakeholders.

The first thing to do when searching for a new software platform for your business is organize all stakeholders. This is a clever move because these are the people with massive interest in your business, thus, their views need to be considered. The stakeholders of a company vary from one company to the other.

Some people typically considered stakeholders include your team managers, your immediate team comprising those who use the software often, the security team, the technical team, and of course, your customers. Every stakeholder’s view will matter at different points of your selection process. Let’s say you want to purchase equipment management software, be sure to include both your team and stakeholders in the purchasing process. Remember a software like this will have to track inventorial equipment in real-time. Where it’s small equipment or heavy equipment you need to track, there are various factors to consider, which your team will help you identify.

2. Answer all the vital questions.

At this stage, you have to answer all the vital questions to ensure you find the best software options. This means liaising with vendors. For example, if you’re after a contact center software to improve your customer service, try shortlisting and calling the best contact center vendors with the highest reviews. Ask the essential questions. For example, can the software work on mobiles?

In some cases, you can use both the mobile and website platforms, which goes a long way to help the growth of your business. The ability to use both web and mobile enables you to create more flexible products for your customers. If you’re a new business just starting, try to select and focus on one at a time and make it as effective as possible. There’s always time to build a complementary web page or mobile application after your business has taken flight.

3. Never go for short-term fixes.

As the experts say, short-term fixes always lead to long-term issues, making the wrong choices concerning your software platform can lead to tech debt. Tech debt is the primary reason why numerous businesses aren’t able to innovate and compete with others. Tech debt related to software platforms could be the creation and implementation of a low-quality, less-than-ideal design or code due to limited time or budget.

Using low-quality products will serve you only for a short time, after which you start to pay dearly with extra time and resources to fix issues that arise. As much as possible, review your existing software platform, find out what you need in new software, and then set a budget to cover them. By assessing your business and enlisting the different ways forward, you’re more likely to make the right choice.

4. Go ahead and explore all your options.

Before making your final decision, it’s in your best interest to try out different software. Doing this before investing allows you to learn about the operations of varying platforms, which helps you find the most suited for your needs and work culture.

During the trial period, study if the platform comes with any glitches. Also, try and understand if it requires a lot of effort to be effective, and if it can help you grow your business how you’ve envisioned. Many platforms look impressive but perform poorly when tested.