In the UK, there are currently over 5.5 million small businesses operating today. Pretty much all of these businesses need some type of software; however, not all business owners feel the same.
Despite the size of your business, whether you’re a solo outfit or you have any number of employees, utilising software to your advantage can give your business a headstart and allow you to push through barriers and improve what you do day-to-day.
But what software do you need, and how do you pick the correct type of software? The exact software that will benefit your company will depend on what you do; while there are general types of software, there are also industry-specific variations and some industry-specific types of software that only certain businesses will need. For example, all companies would benefit from using accounting software, but you can get construction accounting software tailored to running a construction company specifically.
Identify Your Processes
Before you do anything else, you need to be identifying your processes. What this means is to look at how things work now. You don’t need to change anything; simply get a better idea of how things run.
- How do customers engage with you
- How do you identify leads
- How do you follow up with leads
- What happens once you make the sale
- How do you order new stock
- How do you process returns
- How do you send out quotes, invoices, estimates, etc
All of these processes make up how you operate. By identifying what you do and how you do it, you will be in a better position to look for software that can assist you how you need it to and not be bowled over by bells and whistles that make up for a software’s inability to do what you need it to.
Prioritise Your Needs
From here, you need to prioritise your needs. This means finding the most important aspects of what you do and what needs the most attention.
Where will you be better investing your money, what type of software will give you the best results where within the business and what are your biggest issues? By putting your money into the areas that need it the most, you can identify what you need your software to do to help you with the decision-making process.
Set Your Budget
Typically, your software will come with either a one-off cost or ongoing monthly or annual payments to use the service. The fees will vary depending on the type of software you choose and what you need from it, but setting a realistic budget you can afford that is relevant to the process it will be taking over is vital.
Remember that the budget will need to cover the software itself, any installation it requires, ongoing support, training and equipment to help you utilise it. You will also need to consider upgrade costs once this becomes obsolete or a newer version is introduced.
Get Advice
You don’t want to just talk to the company supplying the software, although this is something that you should do regardless. You want to look at reviews, talk to others in your industry and find out what they are using or recommend, what works best for them, the services provided and the support they get to help you determine what options might be best for you and what to avoid.
Getting advice from those already using the software or software of any type can be enlightening and give you a better idea of how things will work for you, as well as tips on what to ask, what to avoid and how to get the right package for your needs.
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