The Light Is Green: Eleven rules of choosing business management software: Rule 3

Here's another entry from our list of eleven "rules" to help guide small and medium sized companies when they evaluate potential suppliers of business management software.

Rule #3: Attend a demo

The dealer should request a personalized demo of the system they are about to acquire, even if this means traveling to the potential supplier’s headquarters.

A good software system will be used by your company for many years. The time you devote during the purchasing process is justified by the importance of your investment.

There are good reasons to visit your supplier: you'll get a good idea of the organizational and technological structure of the company, you'll be able to meet their technical team and get an understanding of their preparation and experience, you'll be able to present your specific problems and issues and talk to the technical specialists whose contribution will be needed in the future.

In addition, the involvement of various managers from the dealership during the software selection process will serve to enhance their commitment.

And finally, don't forget to visit the supplier’s website: a dynamic and well-constructed website is a sign of professional and technical competence, while a poor or non-existent site can be extrapolated to cast a shadow of doubt on the level of the supplier’s solutions.

During the demo, pay special attention to the overall philosophy of the system. Some of these items may seem obvious to you, especially if you have an IT background, but believe me, there are systems that do not comply with all of these guidelines:

Is it integrated?

Do all of the modules, corresponding to the different departments at the dealership, interact transparently? Do they have a similar look and feel?

Is every piece of data “unique”?

In a quality system, all important data are unique. This means that a client or vehicle, for example, are entered only once into the system, from any department, and are immediately available throughout the entire dealership.

This avoids data re-entry, saving time, preventing errors, and allowing maximum leverage of the company’s information.

If a client, vehicle or other piece of data must be entered into the system more than once, this is a sign of poorly designed software.

Is it in real time?

A modern system works in real time, without cumbersome end-of-day batch processes. All departments and stores should be able to view each other’s data the moment it is entered into the system.

Is the accounting online? Is it configurable?

It is especially important that the system be able to generate information in real time and let you view it immediately. Each transaction should automatically generate an accounting entry (which should be configurable by the dealer).

Is there an emphasis on management tools?

Does the system have a focus on the modern management tools that today’s dealer needs? This includes management reports and a Control Panel with user-definable indicators.

Is the interface user-friendly? Is the system easy to use?

This will mean huge time savings when it comes to training current employees, and more importantly, future ones.

If the system is Windows-based, it will surely be easier to learn and use than older green-screen text-based systems.

(When we say Windows, we are not referring to what some text-based systems are doing: putting a Windows “face” on top of the old system to offer a modern appearance. This is not a genuine solution as it does not come accompanied with the true advantages of Windows).

Is the system flexible?

Can you configure the accounting entry that each transaction generates? Does the system allow different ways of working based on the dealer’s particular business processes?