I should probably add this to the list of things you should (or shouldn't do) when selecting software. It's part of the standard way businesses go about selecting software. It works something like this:
- Find 12 companies that sell software that looks like it might work
- Call all 12 of them
- Start research on the Internet about the software. Print out everything you find of interest, whether it's one of the 12 software companies you called or not
- Add all the new companies to your list, and call them
- Talk to the first 8 or 10 that call, and request a demo
- Accept the offers to demo on the web
- Don't take notes
- Don't have a list of questions to ask
- See the other demos either on the web or in your office over a period of 4 or 5 weeks
- Realize that you should have been taking notes and start after the 2nd demo
- Make a list of notes about the first 2 demos so you can give them fair consideration at the end of the process
- Since some of the software companies will call after 2-3 weeks, pack in 2 demos per day in the last 2-3 days of the period before the deadline
- Call a committee meeting the day after the last demo
- Reschedule the meeting because a key employee (who could only attend 25% of the demos can't be there)
- Reschedule again...same employee
- Reschedule again...
- Finally, insist on a meeting and have it
- Make a decision to call back the 3 possible vendors you liked the best
- Be disappointed at the second demo...it seemed like those products did more
- Make a decision based on the best presentation of the 3
- Document, document, document the process so management will see that it was thorough, thorough, thorough
- And now....?
Does this sound like a process you've been through?
More tomorrow on what the best practices look like.
