Support

The failure rate for software implementations demanding between 25% and 80% and the difference is not so much in fact that their interpretation.

If you are only the cases that go to support software system does not live forever and it is abandoned, it is likely that the failure of 25% or less, but if you major overruns cost, delays in counting production, failure to meet expectations and the increasing cost of post-production, may actually be the default rates above 80%.

Choose the wrong vendor is the main reason for these failures and to avoid even the simplest. In this article, we recommend a detailed procedure for selecting the software company to support a successful implementation guarantee. To do this, we compare the standard approach taken by most companies with a broader approach recommended at each stage of the evaluation process.

The safety />
Instead of making a thorough comparison of software support are causing some companies a quick, seemingly safe choice: to choose a provider with the largest market share. Of course, there are good reasons to choose an established supplier, as opposed to a new start-ups. You can always go this way to insert multiple risk factors. Firstly, may have gained their market share has long been the technology that is now obsolete and is a company with lower market shares, inherently unstable. Second, the market share is often successful in focusing on the typical customer. If your company does not fit this profile should look elsewhere. Second, extensive marketing, but as a premium product that could be the reason for the predominance of these suppliers. Finally, the market leader, a higher price simply expect to load because of their popularity.

The risks of a newcomer in the building

are good reasons to choose a well-established suppliers, rather than a new startup that depends stay of further rounds of VC funding in companies: An established service provider is less likely to withdraw from the company, the software had time to settle down and be less likely in error and the seller has time to sort its support / maintenance process has and upgrade.

In summary, unless you really need any new technology that is available only from a startup, you may want service providers of assistance that have been around for a while and focus on the quality of the product / application and effectiveness of business / debt not only to compare the market share.

now examine how the different stages of the selection process is usually done and can be improved

Step 0. Note business objectives and define the ROI

HelpDesk purchase, implementation and training your staff on the effective use of a new system is a lot of time an expensive process . Not begin until a clear business goals and you want to improve processes.

Write them down and discuss with stakeholders, such as vice president of support. Solicit their views on the value of the targets that are not directly quantifiable. For example, when the vice president said that halving the turnaround time for support requests and improve their own satisfaction their sales increase by 10%, which is something that you develop your ROI in the analysis.

The key to your HelpDesk ROI calculations on actual figures or estimates of executives, not on your own beliefs based. Software support can help:

reduce costs and time required to obtain a method />
run that nothing falls through the cracks

automating processes such as support and monitoring of e-mails

eliminating data duplication and reduce the time needed to find information

keep stakeholders current automated reports

offer our customers to 24 / 7 access issues update / monitor the status and

a complete audit trail for regulatory and internal compliance

Win overview of employee productivity and bottlenecks

integration processes, the departments most

help extend support to turn a profit center by selling integrated processes of

Once you’ve decided what processes are most critical, as it should work and appreciation of their improvement, are you willing to share an RFP describes what companies need your system to support the process.

Your goal is to choose a system can fully implement the business processes that you also review at a reasonable price is determined. Each manufacturer claims that its system will increase revenue, reduce costs, etc., so that only by eliminating other details relating to their limits.

For example, instead of saying “Help Desk ticket Assign system must automatically, you can specify:” If there is a request to the Support Team for the area of grant or time must be assigned automatically and the representative must be immediately notified by e-mail with a link to view / edit the issue of this e-mail and the link should be on their smart phone on the Internet, if the agent does not update the registration within two hours of work, he should return to its assigned Manager br …”

Step 1: Create and send bidding

Many companies send RFPs long with qualitative rather than quantitative issues a long list of suppliers. There are two problems with this approach. A question such as general questions omits essential information such as schedule lines, functionality and limitations. Two calls are much longer time for you and suppliers. All your efforts will be wasted if you do not receive detailed answers, and the truth is that many companies simply do not take the time to respond. Manufacturers who want to fill, such as offers are often desperate for business or charge a high price for spending so long.

If the solution for business, you must first send a mini-RFP, which most vendors are closed. Understand exactly what you want, and take time to describe it in detail. This document should consult your top 10-20 questions in the paper and the online format, you accept and will last 20 minutes or less. Although the specific questions that depend on your needs, they should include:

Can you implement all business processes that are described
What will it cost in the coming years ? (The seller can specify a fixed price prior to, but should be able to provide a rough estimate here.)
How long and how many hours does it take to implement?
Can you try the system before committing to buy one?
What kind of expertise to maintain or change the system?

HelpDesk eliminate vendors who do not respond in a timely and based on the responses you get from the rest, reducing the list of vendors in three to five. Tell these companies that they made the short list and send full monitoring of DP. Because these providers are unaware that they have to make a profit of 25% of your company, they are likely to respond.

Make sure that the questions on this RFP are tracking poll and quantitatively. For example, instead of simply stating: “The system allows creation of custom tables should” ask questions like the example below. As you will see the correct answers make a huge difference in terms of timing and cost .

How long does it take to create a custom table and what expertise is required to do so?

The truth is that creating a table fully functional custom can be anywhere from several minutes to several months. In the latter case, it can be tens of thousands of dollars in consulting costs. If you do not provide explicit questions, the seller no indication this

custom tables behave exactly like native tables

probe deeper questions such as:.? You can create links between tables, charts and native Custom? You can search and create reports and business rules to fields in custom tables?

Can tabulations are not obstacles for system upgrades?

The extra effort to modernize a system integrated with custom tables, “no impact” on export and reimport all the data, redo the entire custom table from scratch, and pray that everything goes well

area If you do not know what to ask survey questions to compare quantitative systems using desktop software to the vendor and say .. ” I’m glad you’ve X. I ask, your competitors, I am trying to determine how complete the vendor that I’m considering supporting this feature and if it supports any restrictions or additional costs associated with implementation? . “What we told you about the weaknesses of their competitors, even

. Step 2: Ask demos

In this period, Most companies go is one of two ways for a demonstration HelpDesk. The first is a “standard” demo that can trade parts of his system show that it wants to see and made him the mask weaknesses show not only to participate. The problem with this kind of demonstration is that it will not tell if the system does meet your needs in the situation, and if so, how much effort it takes. is

The second route salesman for a demonstration of the desired solution. But most sellers do not comply with man-weeks in customizing a system with such a call, so unless easily invest your requirements, they will instead insist that takes you on a demo account standard.

design and implementation of all requirements and maintenance / improvement the initial installation on the experience and the changing needs of address can easily exceed the cost of the software. It is therefore important to discover how easily both the software can be configured and what help you can expect suppliers in design and process automation. So what can you do these things in a demonstration to learn

The solution is twofold:

1) Give the provider a limited amount of time to prepare a personalized demo of illustration only a business process of your choice, select the process and demands whatsoever. most important to you or that you think are appropriate for your organization. If a provider can use this card, they will probably be able to handle most standard. Limit the time for the preparation of a demo is something between one and five days to see how quickly the product can be tailored to your needs. you may be aware of this deadline, however, that if the seller takes a week to meet your needs for sale, it will probably take at least that long after they have your money.

2) During the second half of the demo, ask them to change the system to make a different request. Thanks to them in advance that you will be prompted to configure the system during the event. This way they can availability of technical resources at hand. However, they do not give enough information so that they prepare in advance.

If it does not meet your requirements referred to take the first half of the demo, you can skip the second half. Although it may seem brutal, it is entirely fair. After all, you bet your reputation and perhaps the future of your business the right choice

A major advantage of using this method is that you say in the location, type of questions you’re facing the demo on your processes and requirements, the ability to work with the vendor application. you have an instant understanding of your needs and understand that you achieve what you want? Did they ask that you make your processes more accurate and help to design effective? In other words They are experts in process automation and design? Or they will just sell you software and you have your own equipment?

While the demo to judge whether your staff can perform these changes without their help. You can also measure the honest seller. Suppose your HelpDesk DP asked two vendors, how long it would take to create a custom table and answer “five minutes”, but struggled to finish the task in 20 minutes. The second response “30 minutes”, but finished in 25 minutes. You should consider the second partner of a potential seller more honest, or you could at least throughout the first supplier to other responses to the RFP according to their tendency to be optimistic

Step 3: Get references

for at least one reference year to ask the seller other customers and talk to them privately, without the seller, the sale or public relations work for the call. If the seller insists on setting up and connecting the call, treat it as a danger signal very strong.

tell the seller that you are still a few alternatives (even if they are in fact well ahead in the evaluation) There are two reasons for this. You keep your weight in the recent price negotiations with customers is to give more honest feedback if the seller has no way of knowing why they are not elected to be aware of that. glowing references that can not always be trusted, nor are references to a candidate from employment are a guarantee of future performance. You’re only part of your due diligence.

By the way, you have fully recovered articles on the Web, ” existing customers “in response are posted on-line surveys to manufacturer’s recommendations. They are almost all for the provider wrote. case studies of clients on the HelpDesk website of the manufacturer must be viewed with caution, but they are at least honest that represent what they should and can roughly proportional to the quantity of hard quantitative information is familiar, they contain. “We went in two months” means something. “The implementation was very fast,” not

Step 4. The negotiations on the price / >
At this stage of the proceedings can not be blinded by “cheap” may feel that you have found a better value if you. purchase a solution to 0000, 000 instead of one, 000 for, 000 but remember that you will be locked in a costly solution and keep the seller fully exploit probably charge the full price for services implementation, support, upgrades and additional licenses. Certainly, vendors have to balance a new strategy for 5000, “discount” with interest.

However, do not necessarily buy the cheapest product, but the product that will fully meet your needs at a favorable price. Finally, software that does not meet your needs will be very costly in the long term. Either it will not help your business or if you develop software in-house maintenance and investment. br <
/> In the price negotiation, you avoid the following common pitfalls.

1 Bait and Switch

Some manufacturers offer low cost or free Entry-level packages, the functionality of a successful long-term use is lacking. Your goal is to get you trained and dedicated to their system before you discover the bad news and to pay to upgrade . this case by the work of its more expensive and may request quotations on which point you have what you need is to avoid Finally, it is much easier to ask. “I need a feature of X in the future “as” what I can think of functionality, I can make out of this low cost option covered?

2 puncture

sell In a variation of the above, several packages, then stretch their clients for all the extras. For example, “Software as a supplier services can offer so little space with its base that will exceed their customers in a few months and to pay for additional space. You can avoid this trap by record companies, you know all “optional” extras and they do not charge extra for any not on this list.

3 the cost of implementation

In practice what they have learned from the construction industry seems to be some suppliers lowball cost estimates of implementation would double or triple, and the actual costs incurred in connection with work. With each price increase, they can say. “Difficulties” We are 80 and 90% of the way, but there was “unexpected that can trap first detail your needs and requested a fixed price quotation and ensure that the system is easily configured through your own employees

4 is avoided. Maintenance costs

similar to the above, some providers HelpDesk lowball the initial implementation, knowing that you have to pay to change later. The standard metric in the software industry is that the accounts for the initial development of approximately 20% of the cost, while bug fixing, support and maintenance through the remaining 80%. You can use this situation by ensuring that your team can avoid the system to adapt. If a vendor is easy to configure, and their advice will probably cost more reasonable. After all, they will realize that you are not in their power, and was capable of doing the work itself

In general, try get a package or discount, the additional licenses and updated to cover at least the first year. Look at the list price and assume that once the discount period expired, it will be close to what you pay for. Then make your exact specifications of the desired system and ask for a fixed price offer on the implementation itself. You can not. However, it can make for enlightening conversation, the seller, the conclusion of a two-week in its bid does not commit to the completion of two months estimated at a fixed price.

The Vendor list following is a list of major suppliers in the HelpDesk you can send to the front-DP. This list is not exhaustive and other providers on this website and websites like http://www.helpdesks.com, http://www.comparecrm.com is http://www.support-software . org

Note that almost all Web sites that show the list or praise particular vendor is the manufacturer of such a paid internship

Right Now Technologies. http:// sales@rightnow.com www.rightnow.com

SalesForce: http://www.SalesForce.com

sales@salesforce.com assistant business: sales @ http:// enterprisewizard.com www.enterprisewizard.com

SugarCRM sales@sugarcrm.com

http://www.sugarcrm.com Microsoft: sales @ microsoft . com http://crm. dynamics.com

Siebel sales@siebel.com

Conclusion There are four steps to the supplier on the right:

this you want and take the time to describe in detail. Finally, you should do anyway, and it will save them a costly mistake if you want it before.

Find a number of potential suppliers and to send you a short version of the RFP.

limit the list of potential suppliers and ask other suppliers of 3-5 detailed quantitative questions in the full RFP. If you do not know how to quantify, ask other manufacturers for their proposals.

Get a demo of the operation you want from the pretenders, shortly after your offer the full RFP and ask them to make changes during the demonstration. Ask yourself whether you would be able to make these changes without their help. Ask an implementation at a fixed price and negotiate the price for additional seats in advance.

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