Assessing the Software Needs of Your Business

By Donnie Nemitz, Co-Owner, The Hair Specialists LLC and IT Consultant, Stow, Ohio

Going to the grocery store hungry might result in a cart full of food that you otherwise might choose to leave on the shelf. This analogy can also be applied to decision-making when choosing software systems for your business. However, having an extra bag of Cheetos is not the same cost or business impact as a wrong software decision.

We use software platforms simply to become more efficient and effective in running our businesses. We want to reduce the amount of time it takes to do a task and be able to manage assets such as inventory. We want the software to improve the overall customer experience, streamline internal shop processes, and increase the visibility of our financials. These are all valid needs driving a business case to implement a system.

With over twenty-five years in manufacturing and information technology, I can confidently state that unprepared software decisions happen in organizations at every size and maturity level. Agnostic to whatever system is chosen, some consistent errors include rushing a decision without identifying current process needs and goals, assuming the software purchase alone fixes all problems, underestimating the amount of business sweat equity for an installation or overestimating the capability of business's resources. I've made these mistakes myself.

Most software applications are designed to represent industry standard, common best practices and functions. Designing, customizing and configuring a system fully from scratch to match your specific business is costly and the implementation timeline long. Most unique processes that make an individual business special can be accommodated because a platform does expect to have some adjustments. But here, the take-away messages for an owner are to be ready to commit to the industry best practices that the system is designed to deliver, but assertively look for any gaps where the system does not cover a process that is specific, key, and essential to your business.

Buying a Cadillac When a Chevrolet Will Do

During the process of making a proper purchase, the early business assessment and software decision-making phases are owned by the business. A good IT partner can help you through this process, but that is a variable. The business is the entity that feels the direct pain of a wrong buy; hence the business owns its assessment and the setting of objectives for a new system. A first impression of a software's capabilities may be impressive and seem perfect but investing time before the actual shopping to prepare questions, identify goals, become fully aware of processes, and discover pain points is critical.

To help you make the right decision, review these business assessment questions and discussion topics:

■ What are the specific problems, pain points, goals/objectives or improvements?

■ What exact business processes do I need a system to accommodate to run my business?

■ What business process(es) are unique and critical that a system must be able to support? Our hair restoration industry's practices, needs, and procedures can be considered unique and niche. This can cause some gaps between what a system does "out of the box" and your studio. (Looking for these gaps is a key exercise to prepare for when evaluating systems).

■ Can I commit the resources of my team or myself to make an implementation work? Business resources will be needed at various levels during an implementation. For example, data (such as client information, appointments and inventory), will need a cleanup, preparation or even entered manually. User training and the testing of your system are other big demands of time.

■ Where do I see my business growing that a system or partner would need to support? For example, do you plan to add a service that you are not currently offering, such as e-commerce for retail.

■ What is my timeline for launching a new system? Do you need to launch at the end of a fiscal quarter? During a slower business season? Or do you want to rapidly launch as soon as possible?

■ What risks are there? Where are the ways that customers might be negatively impacted?

■ What are my expectations from an IT partner during the implementation phases and business support postlaunch?

■ What are my total cost assumptions and budget?

■ Have I asked for input from other business peers, my employees or clients?

Sounds simple, but an IT vendor cannot provide answers to these questions or topics. Maybe your business needs the Cadilliac, but the discussions with different software vendors are more valuable when you are aware and prepared. You are looking for a solution and a partner that is the best operational and fiscal fit for your business.

Some studies have shown that >80% of IT projects are delayed and the average cost overrun >30%. Anecdotally, I agree. In my opinion, a great preventative measure is spending this effort on the front end assessing your business, then diligently matching and mapping the different software solutions while evaluating IT partners for competency. Another result of this due diligence is that an IT vendor will be aware they have a committed and accountable customer (which are all prerequisites for a successful, collaborative, and positive system installation).

Also keep reminding yourself that the last group of stakeholders to affect or disrupt are your clients. Throughout every phase of preparation/business discovery, software purchase, implementation, and launch, always be diligent to ensure customer disruption is prevented. No business owner wants to launch an online booking tool that breaks on day one. Make this a theme from day one of your assessment effort.

The main priority of your business is the delivery of great services and products to our hair restoration clients, not necessarily to be a renown IT expert. It is a good idea to consider bringing in a consultant or third-party advisor to guide the assessment, evaluation and, decision-making process for software and vendors.

Find me at HairNow24 if you want to chat further!