Step 3 - Our Adoption Process

Creating your shopping list

Drill down into detail on your requirements and start exploring potential suppliers.

Why?

Knowing what features and functionality you’re looking for will help you filter out products and suppliers more effectively – and get to a good shortlist more quickly. It also helps to gather your thoughts before you speak to salespeople.

There’s a lot of shiny nice products out there, but it might not be the right fit for you. It might not be the products fault, it’s the right fit for someone out there, but it might not be the right fit for you

Tom Mathew - Dunsters Farm

How?

We have produced two downloads to help with this stage. Our features checklist is a series of questions that can help you identify exactly the right software for you. You’ll see that these questions are not all about technology. They’re designed to help you understand your business requirements, so you know exactly how your software will fit in.

Download our free features checklist here

Once you've defined the things that you're looking for from your new software, you're ready to start considering different products and suppliers. Our research guide can help you do your research

Download our free research guide here

WIth our CRM, I used one that in my head was the pinnacle of CRMs, but actually it was built for much bigger businesses so within 5 months we switched to another one which was way better for what we needed to do. It comes back to thinking "there must be an easier way to do this"

Christian Smith - Outdoor Provisions

Dos and Don'ts for researching software

Do...

Double-check the facts - We've spoken to SMEs who found that products did not have all the features listed on comparison sites
Read online publications with reviews - Check whether the information is coming from a truly independent source
Use a range of sources - Look at supplier websites as well as third party sources like trade magazines and IT publications
Get your hands on a demo - That way you get a feel for what the product is like to use
Ask your peers - Trusted peers, partners and colleagues can be a great source of information

Don't…

Be afraid of asking lots of questions - A salesperson should be able to explain things in terms you understand
Just choose the one a friend went with - Different businesses can have drastically different needs, unfortunately there are no shortcuts
Just go for a brand name - Lots of firms we spoke to bought something based on a brand name which wasn't right for them
Forget to give yourself room to move - The world can move quickly, so leave yourself some flexibility in case your needs change
Do it alone - Speak to your staff who will use the software most, and consider whether an outside perspective might be useful
Case Study.

Hear more about how Jane Vincent finally found the right system for her business by really getting her team involved in the process

We’d class ourselves as advocates for implementing tech, but we’re very strict on what we’ll implement. People see it as the answer to all their prayers but it’s not necessarily unless it works for your business

Hannah Barlow - Dunsters Farm

What can I do with this step?

Create an interactive action plan by setting progress deadlines and assigning ownership of actions.

Customise my action plan

Download our guide outlining the six-step adoption process, and then go through the steps in your own time.

Learn about the software you could use

Take a look at our technology explainers
Read the guides