Assessing the Software Needs of Your Business By Donnie Nemitz, Co-Owner, The Hair Specialists LLC and IT Consultant, Stow, Ohio Going to the grocery store hungry might result in a cart full of food that you otherwise might choose to leave on the shelf. This analogy can also be applied to decision-making when choosing software systems for your business. However, having an extra bag of Cheetos is not the same cost or business impact as a wrong software decision. We use software platforms simply to become more efficient and effective in running our businesses. We want to reduce the amount of time it takes to do a task and be able to manage assets such as inventory. We want the software to improve the overall customer experience, streamline internal shop processes, and
increase the visibility of our financials. These are all valid needs driving a business case to implement a system. With over twenty-five years in manufacturing and information technology, I can confidently state that unprepared software decisions happen in organizations at every size and maturity level. Agnostic to whatever system is chosen, some consistent errors include rushing a decision without identifying current process needs and goals, assuming the software purchase alone fixes all problems, underestimating the amount of business sweat equity for an installation or overestimating the capability of business's resources. I've made these mistakes myself. CONTINUED ON PAGE 9
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