Notes tagged
choosing-software
11 notes on choosing-software. All notes.
A CRM and a task system are not the same thing
One is organised around a person outside the company, the other around work inside it. A builder needs both, and they should meet only at the crossing events.
How to choose construction software without regretting it
Most of these purchases fail in the evaluation, not in the product. Follow three real transactions end to end, then watch for the parallel register.
The demo is not the product
A demo is a rehearsed path through clean data. Bring your ugliest challan, ask for the keyboard, and insist on a dated written list of what was promised.
A pilot that tells you something
Most trials are run by the enthusiast, on the best site, with the vendor typing. Design one whose outcome is informative rather than political.
What a price list does not tell you
The licence is the visible part. Migration, training, per-user pricing and the cost of leaving are larger, arrive later, and are rarely quoted at all.
Getting your data back out
Every system ends. A report is not an export and an export is not a backup, and the difference decides what you are holding on the day you leave.
Ask to see the audit trail before you sign
Every vendor says the history is kept. The way to find out is to make a record, change it, cancel it, and ask to see that one record's history on screen.
How to test a "works offline" claim in ten minutes
Every vendor says the app works offline, and the word means four different things. A cheap phone in flight mode settles it faster than any meeting.
Software your staff can actually read
The storekeeper, the guard and the munshi have to use it too. What Hindi support usually turns out to mean, and how to find out before you buy.
Approval chains worth asking about
Every vendor can draw a workflow diagram. The questions that separate a real approval system from a picture are about the cases nobody draws.
One WhatsApp number, or one per person
Behind every WhatsApp integration is one decision nobody raises in the meeting: does the message come from the company, or from a person who knows them.