Selecting Business Management and Accounting Software: 5 Practical Tips
In this day and age, new technologies are emerging every day, competition is growing, and customers are becoming more and more demanding. To survive in such a constantly changing and increasingly challenging environment, businesses have to be fast, flexible, and use the best tools. Nowadays, business automation and accounting software is key to success, which means you should be very careful when choosing these tools.
Today we will present the factors to analyze when shopping for an ideal solution.
Functionality
Nowadays, there are multiple business management and accounting software solutions available. However, most of these systems are only suitable for specific accounting activities: management, warehouse, taxation, payroll, etc. Thus, if you want complete coverage of your needs, it is necessary to bundle together several services, which may be both hard to do, and costly.
This is why it is necessary to analyze the full feature list thoroughly before implementing new software. For example, the 1C:Enterprise platform combines a lot of functions tailored to specific accounting activities with other business processes which allows companies to “relieve several pains with one pill.”
Scalability
A big mistake when choosing enterprise-level software is overlooking the scalability options. The tool may be a perfect fit today, but if the business grows in a year or two, will the software adapt? If not, you’ll have to find a new solution and migrate all your data, which is a total pain.
It’s a good idea here to study scalability options the developers of a specific system have to offer. The software that has entry-level features, as well as solutions for medium-sized and enterprise businesses, should be a safer bet.
Flexibility
Another severe problem with accounting software is the lack of flexibility. Most systems are shipped as-is, and you cannot adapt them to your current stage of business or needs. An ability to automate different aspects of your business on a step-by-step basis can mitigate lots of problems.
For example, in the 1C:Enterprise platform, companies can choose what segments they want to automate: procurement, sales, payroll, manufacturing control, accounting, etc. Business can activate these subsystems when needed.
Also, it is important to carefully review the integration options the specific system provides. As your business grows, you’ll need multiple services, from POS terminals and payment processing to inventory management and marketing. If your business management and accounting software can be integrated with these specific tools, it will save you a lot of resources.
Customization opportunities
All businesses are unique. Thus, it is impossible to create a silver bullet: a software solution that will always fit all your needs out of the box. So, it is essential to have an opportunity to customize the solution. Not only will you be able to implement the features you need, but it will reduce the traction which is always present when a new software is implemented.
People do not like change, especially if they are required to put in lots of effort to learn new interface elements, for example. Therefore, if you can use a custom UI setup and, say, hide the elements users do not need, this would help in making the interface look more familiar.
Always double check the list of customization features the developers have implemented. The more things you can change, the more the final product will be tailored to your specific needs.
Post-sale Support
You do not only need a reliable system that will grow with your business, You will need quality support too. And no matter how good the software itself is, if you cannot get help in a critical situation, all of its advantages are eliminated.
A lack of support is often a reason for the low price of specific solutions. But minimal savings today may result in significant losses tomorrow. This is why you should always be sure that developers offer a good level of support. Read reviews, contact companies who are already using the software, and spend some time putting in the research to avoid potential problems in the future.
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