“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
- Maria Robinson
Organizations that decide to take that next step from Quickbooks, Peachtree, or other entry level accounting software system, typically do so with a confident understanding that it will take them to the next level in their business life cycle. They’ve outgrown the simple inventory systems, the modest job cost functionality, or the non-existent service dispatch software required to keep things running smoothly and ultimately, keep customers coming back time and time again.
Why, then, is there so much trepidation that the investment may not get them to that next level? Unfortunately it’s often because they’ve heard horror stories about the time, expense, commitment, and complexity of a software implementation from peers and competitors alike. In our 20 plus years of implementing software, we’ve been brought in to fix what could have been avoided in the first place, if they had been working with the right advisor.
Some of the things we have seen include:
- Job Cost set up for a General Contractor when it should have been set up for an Engineering firm
- Project costing for professional services set up for a job shop company
- Integrations from ERP to other external applications done with proprietary development tools, making future upgrades way more complicated and costly than need be
- Software modifications that cost the customer multiple times more than the software itself
What steps can a growing business take to ensure they select the right software, partner with an experienced advisor, understand the real costs, allocate the appropriate in-house talent and accomplish all of this without spending so much time and money that it cripples the organization? I am going to be answering these questions and more in this series of upcoming blog posts, so stay tuned!
It can be a positive, profitable experience. Over the years, the number one thing we have learned is to set the appropriate expectations, be upfront & honest and never stop communicating. I’ll be sharing some facts and time tested practices over the next few weeks. If you have a comment, story, or question, I’d love to hear from you.
