Business software often has a direct impact on productivity. This handy template can make it easy to choose one. There are some things you’ll need first. The first is access to the information about the software on the vendor’s website. The second is to create a shortlist of two to five software tools that you’re considering.

Step 1

Find out the following information about each software option on your shortlist. Set up an excel sheet with the points listed below on rows and ratings for different software options on the columns.

Average user ratings: Looks for average overall, ease-of-use, and customer service ratings. Choose the software with the highest score.

Starting price: If you don’t know, leave it blank unless it’s your most important deciding factor. If it is, ask the vendor. If you’re starting with a free version, find out the cost to upgrade. 

Software deployment: Ask where the software will be set up. Think of all the places it will need to work and check the software’s deployment options. 

Training: Consider how much training your team will need. Complicated solutions require a person for early walkthroughs. Unless the software is intuitive and comes with simple instructions. 

Customer service and support: If you’re going to be using the software outside of the usual 9 to 5, consider software with 24/7 online support. 

Features: Ensure that the software has features that match your industry’s needs. You won’t need all features, so ensure that you don’t pay for more.

Integrations: Check if it can integrate with your current system or other tools you might be considering. This will reduce adoption headaches in the future. Ask about security risks for data transfer between solutions.

Users: Know how many people will use the system and how much it costs to add new users. 

Step 2

Enter ratings for each of the points listed in step 1 for each software on your shortlist. Fill the sheet and set an aggregate score for each column. The one with the highest score offers most of your predetermined requirements. Excel templates for this can be found online.

Step 3

Go ahead and buy your new software.