Much of the work I do is with companies that are replacing their accounting and operational software. You hear it called a lot of things, but the most common industry term is ERP (enterprise resource planning) software. As I've written somewhere (maybe here), this includes accounting, inventory, order entry, purchasing, manufacturing, sales, marketing (CRM), service, and other software required to plan the "enterprise."
Clients often begin our initial meetings with a list of "what they need." It might sound something like this: "We have Software X, and it won't do A, B, and C for us." Sometimes the software is too small for the company (they have outgrown the features), sometimes the software is old, sometimes it never really worked and the issues have simply become overwhelming. At least part of the time, the software has been custom written. But whatever the reason, they're moving on.
I tell clients, "We treat cancer." In 20 years in this business, I've never had a client come to me and say, "Bob, we're looking for new software. We don't have any real problems, but it's been 5 years since we replaced our accounting system and we think it's time to get something new. We just think it's time to stir everyone up, retrain everyone, make all the resistant to change people in the organization mad, and generally create chaos."
No, they come to us and say, "We need A, B and C." The problem is that what floats to the top is often only a part of the whole need for the company. If the company makes the mistake of buying software based on this type of an analysis, it's not uncommon to have a great deal of trouble making the change. Basically, a key set of needs is ignored.
This is one of the big reasons that I've begun to do Needs Analysis in the last year or so on ALL new clients. Because I'm serious about "The right direction, the first time," it's important for us to get all the needs. And the only way to do it is to do a needs analysis. Take a look at our process for selection of ERP software.
