When choosing software, consider more than just product features. Factors about the vendor and service may affect the success of your investment. Consider these issues when selecting software.

Make sure the software that you select to run your business is backed by a company with more than just one, two or three employees. Does the software company rent an office or is it a home-based business? If your business is important to you, make sure you entrust it to a software firm that can meet your needs.

Beware of software companies that pop into existence because they wrote a program for just one jeweler. The software is most likely designed around the special needs of the jeweler. If you become their second, third or fourth user, how reliable or field-tested do you think the software is? Find out how long the software company has been in business; you do not want your investment to evaporate if they can’t remain in business.

Make sure that a real support staff stands behind the software that you select. Professional software firms invest heavily in supporting their customers. In selecting software for your company, you are also entrusting your business to the level of support the vendor or author can provide. What if you have a question and you can’t get someone on the phone? What if you only get an answering machine or you’re told that everyone’s at a tradeshow or on vacation so you can’t get technical support until they return? These are important questions that should be asked before you purchase software for your business.

Before making a commitment to a software package, find out how reliable the software is. Many software companies offer prospective customers the opportunity to work with the software before making a financial commitment. Most often this trial version is limited by either time or the number of transactions that can be processed—but it should be just enough for you and your employees to input a customer, a sale, an order, print some reports and so forth. If you cannot get a CD, or if you only get screen-print outs, the software may be suspect or not reliable, or even worse, it may be vaporware (which means the software doesn’t actually exist).

In selecting software, one important area is ease of use. If the software is difficult to use, why get it? The reason to implement a software system is to make tasks and processes easier for you and your employees. If the software windows are cluttered, complicated or difficult to understand, then it probably wasn’t designed well. Do not purchase poorly designed software.

An extremely important aspect of selecting a software package for your business is being able to find out what other users are saying. Before making a financial commitment to any software product, ask to see references or speak with other jewelers. If the software company can’t produce more than ten references then they may be hiding a big problem—no satisfied users.

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