How to buy software systems?

Preparation should be made first

Issues such as company processes, consultancy requirements, growth perspective, and employee participation should be evaluated. Lessons learned from past projects and experienced users should be discussed, and expectations should be clarified for each department. Points that cause time loss, applications that increase competitiveness, and long-standing habits that have not been questioned should form the basis of the software search.

Many terms are used for the field we serve. While terms such as ERP, chain store management, or retail information system may be sufficient for large companies, smaller businesses often use expressions such as barcode system, barcode automation, store automation, or store system. In fact, regardless of size, every company benefits from innovations to the extent of its capacity.

Traditional purchasing method - Product selection

Software purchase can be made with the method of determining fixed content, fixed cost, and fixed project duration. This method, which is the most well-known and widely used in the market, is based on the proximity to purchasing habits in goods procurement and ignores the characteristics of the traditional product purchasing method that do not fit software purchasing at all.

When deciding to buy a car, many issues such as what is expected, price-performance ratio, usage area, maintenance information, and driver's license are extremely clear and known by everyone. Considering that software is not a tangible product, the service is always part of the business in commercial software, the competence of the IT department, and the needs for operating and updating the software, it becomes clear how different it is from buying a car.

The proliferation of consumer technology-based products, their ease of use, and tech-savvy managers' perception of themselves as sufficient in software selection may lead to illusions about consulting with experts or relevant employees.

Assuming that the company's size, business processes, and technological development will remain constant, the result will likely be failure.

Custom software project method - Company selection

In this method, purchasing is carried out with a flexible project duration and cost, and a flexible content based on the analysis of company-specific processes. It is assumed that the service provider is highly familiar with the subject and can provide the best process descriptions. Based on the transfer of all critical points to the software company, it is quite challenging for the system obtained as a result of development and adaptation to provide the necessary solutions permanently. Although it has significant advantages over the product selection method with flexible duration and cost, the parties managing the project must have the highest level of mastery over the relevant software product and company. The focus is on fulfilling the customer's requests rather than researching the truth.

Consultancy method - Business partner selection

When purchasing with the consultancy method, the management of all project-related steps, such as project management, analysis of company processes, and determination of necessary software development steps, is carried out together with the relevant company. Since mutual trust is extremely important, it is quite challenging to progress with this method. It is essential to work in a continuous improvement environment without reducing efficiency.

In this method, the key issue is that the point where the service is received is not structured like a software company alone but is specialized in business processes and always focused on improvement for the customer's benefit. With an appropriate project plan and cost structure, the software company acts with the mentality of managing its own business, always going ahead of users, being vigilant against inefficient points, and interpreting needs in the best way. It does not accept requests as they are but always questions the underlying resources of requests, and real automation needs are described together.

Considering the company's capacity to digest innovations, a phased project understanding is created instead of a single block. After the basic transition is ensured, suitable modules are activated. The timing of this again relies on trust in the service provider.