Member News: Why you should try before you buy
Article Date: 12th Jul 2011
But when the new project management system is rolled out across your agency, the complaints start to flood in. “Impossible to use”, “doesn’t do what it says on the box”, or “works for design but not finance” are some of the responses you may receive if you don’t research and test software thoroughly before you buy it.
The reality is, you don’t want to invest time and money into the wrong system. Even if you’re using software as a service and the set-up costs are minimal, you’re still going to have to transfer your data and train your employees on the new system if you buy it straight away. A waste of time unless you’re sure it’s right for your business.
This is why you need to try before you buy. Not just a quick click around the system for an hour, but agency-wide testing with real business data.
Test driving software takes a bit of preparation in order to get the best results. Without transferring your whole database or project system; you should put enough of your real business data into the system to be able to test it properly.
Ideally you need to test the software within different groups in your business. Sure the decision makers at the demo liked it – but how will designers, accounts, project management and admin find actually using it with real data.
You should prepare some scenarios for each department, mimicking the kind of events that are likely to happen in your agency. You don’t want to buy the software and then find you didn’t test it thoroughly enough while you had the chance.
You need at least a 2 week trial to make sure that you have time to set up the system; do a little training and give the busiest members of your team time to fit testing into their schedules. The trial should also be for an unlimited number of users to get an agency-wide consensus.
While on trial you should also test support and other add-on services. There’s no point in having a great software solution if you can never get hold of help for your support queries. You want to make sure help is available to your team when they need it.
To further minimise your risk, even when the free trial is complete, you should have the ability to take the software on a pay-as-you-go basis. Once you’re sure it’s working for your agency a fixed-term contract should then be negotiated.
Another benefit of software trials is the ability to test multiple vendors’ solutions for free. Why not test two or three shortlisted solutions and see which one suits your agency best?
If a software vendor has enough confidence in their product to let you take a full trial of their product without any commitment, then you’ll get a true representation of what it will be like to have it in your company full-time. If not you may be in for some nasty surprises!
Why try before you buy:
See how the software works for your agency with real-life data and scenarios.
Ensure it works for every department; not just one or two.
Test support and other services to be sure they meet your business needs.
Compare different solutions from multiple agencies at the same time.
No cost + no commitment = no risk to you.
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