Saturday, February 28, 2009

RMS Warns; Be in the Driver Seat When Deciding on Your Software Solution

RMS Warns; Be in the Driver Seat When Deciding on Your Software Solution

Rod Sherr, CPA, President/CEO of Resource Management Solutions, suggests the following steps to keep your company in the driver's seat when selecting the right software application solution for your organization.

Los Angeles, CA (Vocus) February 28, 2009 -- Most companies understand they need help when looking at investing in a software solution. The real question is where they turn for help? If they turn to a software sales team before they are "ready", they could be making a very big mistake.

"Unfortunately, I have seen this happen too often," says Rod Sherr, CPA, President/CEO of Resource Management Solutions (RMS) (www.Consult-RMS.com), a California Corporation. "Many companies do not understand the protocol of selecting the right software application solution for their organization. They do spend time on researching what might work best for them but many neglect the first step to take before contacting the software vendors."

Sherr goes on to say that companies that give up the driver seat to a sales team may have already lost the battle. The dog and pony show does need to take place in the boardroom but the timing of this must be strategic. If vendors are invited in too soon, there may be promises made that cannot be fulfilled and companies may end up paying for a lot of customizations to get the software to perform to match their needs.

Sherr recalls walking into the boardroom of a very large client who had just signed a contract with a vendor to purchase their software. They got a great price but the ground work was not completed prior to the purchase. As a result, the company had well over 100 customizations to the software to get it to perform adequately. Due to the numerous customizations, this implementation took longer to complete and ended up costing this company more than the cost of the other vendor's solutions. With this many customizations, it made their software impossible to ever upgrade.

What is the proper protocol? Sherr suggests the following steps to keep your company in the driver's seat:

1. Document your company's current (AS IS) state. Sherr says, "you need to know where you are before you can determine the path of where you need to go."

2. Prepare a needs assessment, a list of your business requirements and objectives. Prioritize what is most important functionality wise to you. In other words, what are your "must haves" verses your "like to haves".

3. Once current state is defined and documented along with business requirements, a company is ready to write their requirements in the form of a request for proposal (RFP). This is then submitted to the public and is the formal invitation for software vendors to submit their proposals. Pay very close attention to how each vendor addresses your needs.

4. Once the proposals are reviewed, companies are now ready to invite vendors to the party. This is where vendors need to answer questions and show you the functionality of their software.

Sherr says, "make sure all questions get answered by the vendors. Do not leave anything unanswered." A good software salesperson will be able to show their potential client live scenarios of any areas of functionality that they have a question about. If vendors can't reproduce the scenario or don't answer the questions fully, don't sign their contract until they prove their case. Sherr urges companies to spend the time necessary to prepare for their software selection and be ready to ask the software vendors the tough questions. By following these steps, a company can greatly reduce under-performance and project failure risks.

Resource Management Solutions (RMS) (www.Consult-RMS.com) is a professional services consulting firm specializing in improving the processes that directly affect the productivity and management of Human Capital. By making improvements to the processes in these areas and with the use of today's technology, RMS is able to show their clients how to increase productivity and reduce labor costs thus affecting the company's profitability. These cost reduction procedures RMS implements are sustainable for years to come. RMS has been serving their clients since 2000. A California-based Corporation, RMS has a solid record of accomplishment. It has gained the reputation of doing whatever it takes to ensure projects are successful. RMS has helped companies with up to 45,000 employees successfully implement ERP and Workforce Management Technology solutions in a timely cost effective manner. Call one of our offices today and see why people call RMS "the missing piece" to their projects. RMS looks forward to serving you soon.

Contact:

NAME: Scott Siderman

EMAIL: SSiderman(at)Consult-RMS.com

PHONE: 866-361-1704 ext. 708

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Contact Information Scott Siderman

Resource Management Solutions

http://www.Consult-RMS.com

866-361-1704



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