In need of a new business management system?

This is a very common question all businesses should be asking periodically. Is your current business management system meeting your needs? Do you have manual processes and Excel spreadsheets and data in many systems?

Before you start looking at possible solutions to your business needs, we suggest you follow a process that will result in selecting the right solution for your needs.

Create a team of people representing the key functional areas of the business

By doing this, you’ll ensure that their needs will be met as you pick a new system. Not thinking about every side of the business can lead to gaps in process and efficiencies down the line, and may force you to reconsider everything from the starting line.

Identify the needs in each one your business’ functional areas.

This way, you can better evaluate the possible solutions for fit. Business management includes:

Sales/Marketing
Website
Order Processing
Inventory Management
Purchasing
Production
Accounting

Plus other specific areas, including shipping, EDI, sales tax, warehouse management, and so on.

Research possible solutions

Depending on your situation, the best fit might be a general business, cloud, or industry-specific solution.

General business management solutions include Sage, Microsoft, and Intuit. Cloud solutions include Acumatica, Intacct, and Netsuite. Industry-specific solutions include Infor, Epicor, Exact, and many others.

Solicit RFI

Out of these possible solutions, the next step is to solicit at Request for Information to figure out which solutions have the ability to meet your needs.

Narrow fields

Narrow the field down to two or three for a demo. Outline your specific demo scenarios so that you can make apples to apples comparisons.

Identify costs

Consider what the overall costs might be for each solution.

Infrastructure: Are you using servers or workstations? Is it in the cloud or hosted?
Software costs: What are the upfront and annual costs?
Implementation: What does it cost to install, configure, migrate data, train, and go live?

Calculate ROI

Calculate your return on investment for improvements or cost savings by implementing a new system.

Be realistic

Finally, set a realistic implementation plan that will result in success in achieving improvements in employee, vendor, and customer relationships with a new business management system.

Have more questions? Please see our eBook on selecting a new business management system for more information and contact us regarding your specific situation and process for finding the right fit for your business needs.