Five Steps to Purchasing Service & Construction Management Software

Jul 27, 2018

When purchasing a Service & Construction Management Software solution, following a set of processes and procedures will help your business make the right decision. In this blog post, we will provide five steps to help any business select a Service & Construction Management Software solution.

1. Establish Goals & Timeline

By sitting down and creating goals, your business will establish specific criteria in which the Service & Construction Management Software is intended to achieve. The key is to create S.M.A.R.T. goals, which stands for smart, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. By following this process of establishing goals, your business will be on the right track to success.

Some examples of goals are:

Increased revenue and profitability.
Improving communication between the office and the field.
Better visibility and accessibility to information.
Enhanced technician and staff productivity.
Increasing both customer and employee satisfaction.

Once your goals have been established, the next step is to create a timeline. The timeline should outline when the selection process will begin, when a vendor should be selected by, when the final decision should be made, and when the implementation process should be completed.

2. Determine Requirements

Selecting a Service & Construction Management Software requires careful thought and consideration. All companies are different, and therefore requirements will be unique to each company’s needs.

Some requirement considerations are:

Is the Service & Construction Management Software user friendly and easy to learn?
Will the SCMS solution meet our three highest unique processes we do?
Will additional training and support be required after implementation?
Does your business already have systems in place the SCMS must work with?
Will the Service & Construction Management Software meet your business’ needs today?
Is the Service & Construction Management Software scalable to meet future needs?
What are the vendor traits that will meet the needs of your business?

By determining what the requirements for your business will be, and the traits the vendor must possess, you can effectively mitigate risk and ensure all avenues are considered before proceeding with purchasing a Service & Construction Management Software solution.

3. Explore Software Vendors

Once goals, timelines, and requirements have been established, the next step is to research and evaluate Service & Construction Management Software vendors.

When selecting a vendor, there are a few guidelines to consider:

Ask questions relating to your business’ specific processes to ensure it meets your needs.
Ask for a demo to get accustomed to the feel of the software.
Determine if the software meets your technology needs, such as whether they offer a cloud or hosted solution or require an on premise server.
Read software reviews with a focus on usability, functionality, quality, and support.
Keep in mind the five keys to consider during the software purchase process to avoid looking only at features and functionalities.

Take the time to truly understand the vendors available and the market, and look beyond the software to determine what each vendor is really about.

4. Read Case Studies, Watch Videos & Speak with References

To ensure a vendor can do what it says it can and help your business succeed, reading case studies, watching videos, and speaking with customers currently using the Service & Construction Management Software can provide great insight into the vendor. Ask the vendor for as many case studies, videos, and references as possible that relate to your specific business or industry.

When asking the references questions, you should consider the following:

Is the customer within a similar industry as yours and roughly about the same size?
How the implementation process was, and were there any issues?
How the overall training was and how is the level of support they are currently receiving?
What ultimately led them to selecting that particular vendor?
Has their business improved since implementing the Service & Construction Management Software?

By asking these questions of the reference, you should be able to gauge how the vendor performs, as well as the results you should expect by implementing the Service & Construction Management Software.

5. Choose a Solution & Get Started

Once you have selected a vendor and are confident they can meet the needs of your business, you are ready to start the implementation process and begin your partnership with the vendor of choice.

During the implementation process, you should expect:

A ‘kick-off’ meeting, whereby the vendor will gain a better understanding of your business’ needs, determine a launch date, and discuss best practices.
A business process review, which looks at your business’ existing system and processes, specifically focusing on areas of improvement and enhancing efficiencies.
A training process, which provides your business with a deep understanding of how to perform tasks within the software system, as well as more focused training on areas that require greater attention.
A practice testing area, which encourages employees to practice using the software through completing real world scenarios that are likely to occur on a regular basis.
A soft launch, where your business will begin operating with the Service & Construction Management Software solution, while leveraging vendor support should any issues arise going forward.
A final go-live, where your business is now fully operational on the software.

After a few months of using the Service & Construction Management Software solution, perform a system audit to see what processes are working and which could use further attention and training. Also, begin to evaluate additional functionalities that could help further improve your business.

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