A Guide to Purchasing Coatings Software
by Carole Bass
Ask Around, Get Your Users Involved, Demo, Who Are These People?, One More Rule, Common Sense
No coatings manufacturing company can survive and thrive in today’s competitive marketplace without utilizing computers and software. There are too many areas where purely human efforts no longer cut it. Regulatory reporting, product development, sales analysis, inventory tracking, profitability reporting, and statistical process control can all become costly nightmares without the assistance of a quality, dependable software package. Your bottom line depends on the leading edge that good software can provide. If your competitor is handling his information processing more efficiently than you are, he’s undoubtedly spending less and making more. And you may be edged out.
But how do you select a software package? Your expertise is in paint, not microchips or screen layouts. The computer industry is changing so fast that even the computer techies can’t keep up. The rate of failure in software installations is sometimes estimated at sixty percent or higher. How do you have a chance to avoid becoming another costly addition to this sad statistic when you’re busy concentrating on new resin systems, regulatory changes, and selling your product? You don’t have the time to learn the details of data processing issues – you just want to find a good package that will keep your firm on a steady and profitable path for the next several years.
There are several simple and common sense principles that surprisingly few companies utilize when selecting software. Keep these critical guidelines in mind while you’re making your decision, and you’ll make a better choice.
When you’re searching for potential software packages, you’ll look in the directories and trade magazines for products. But don’t forget to look at what your friends and competitors are using. Ask around. See who sounds happy about his system and who’s got problems. Look at the companies that are doing well, that you’d like to emulate. It’s very likely that they got their software from an outside vendor. And it’s real possible that they’ll tell you all about their experiences.
When you’re asking about software experiences, find out how and why a specific software package was selected. How long the software’s been in use. Whether management sees the acquisition as adding to the bottom line. Whether the software was modified, and if the customization process was a relatively smooth process. Find out if the software house has been helpful, accessible, and reasonable in its on-going fees and charges. Ask whether the software has grown through the years – has it helped or been a hindrance as new requirements and tasks came on line?
Be sure to find out if the software and the software vendor have been flexible enough over the years to address new and changing customer needs and computer technology. If they have, it’s a good indication that they’ll be able to address new needs and circumstances for your company down the line - things that you’ll want in a few years, but don’t know about yet.
GET YOUR USERS INVOLVED UP FRONT
Don’t make the mistake of having just your top managers participate in making a software decision. Your company management has the large picture in mind, but your lower-level employees know the specifics of what will and won’t work for the nitty gritty everyday tasks that make up the structure of the way your company functions. And they’re the people who are going to be dealing with the software all day, every day. They are one of your largest costs, and they know how they’re wasting their time (your money) with repetitive and menial information-handling tasks. They will mean the difference between a smooth implementation and a costly disaster.
Your employees know the nuances of the different ways that they process orders and paperwork for your largest bread-and-butter customer and for the customer that you’re hoping will be the outstanding sales leader two years from now. They know about the variations in requirements for labels between customers. They know the specifics of each of your price promotions. They know exactly how the batch ticket needs to be formatted, which reports are critical to your chemists, and what all your salesmen hate about the current commission reports. They probably know better than you do which critical on-line lookups will enable your customer service reps to make the purchasing manager on the other end of the phone line think he’s your highest priority – every time he calls. They know the specifics of how you do business that could become expensive surprises after you’ve locked in on a software package – things that your managers never thought of. If this core group of users is involved up front, you can avoid costly delays and changes later on.
Your middle and lower-level employees are your experts. Use them. Before you begin your software selection process, encourage your employees in the affected departments and at all levels, to create simple, bullet-style lists of their requirements. Have them rank the importance on a simple scale such as: 1) must have, 2) important but not critical, and 3) wish.
After compiling a needs list, it might seem as though much of your work in the selection process is over. Not so. Because no matter how clear and concise your lists seem, a software vendor isn’t going to know exactly what you’re looking for without talking to you. They can’t give you a valid answer to how their package will fit your needs by filling out a checklist or form; it just doesn’t work that way. Because a checklist is too cryptic and is wide open to interpretation. And because similar companies sometimes use the same terms very differently. (Ask ten production managers to tell you what MRP means to them, and you’ll get some almost unrelated answers.) It’s false economy to think that vendors can fill out forms telling you whether they’re a good fit for your firm. But make sure to use your lists as reminders and checklists while you and your key employees decide if a package’s features are what you have in mind.
Getting your users involved early in the selection process provides vital benefits in addition to ensuring that you find software that fits your company’s needs. Your employees will be much more enthusiastic about the software you select -- especially during the awkward early implementation phase – if they’ve had a voice during the decision phase. A key employee can sabotage the implementation of the best of software packages if he feels resentment about being forced to go through the learning curve for a product on which he wasn’t consulted. By including him in the selection process, you’ve increased your user’s cooperation and motivation, and dramatically lowered your risk of embarrassment or catastrophe in purchasing a system that fails.
DEMO, DEMO, DEMO, DEMO
Get demos. Lots of them, if need be. Make sure you see the features you want demonstrated in a way that you can relate to and fully understand. Take your experts (the lower-level nitty-gritty guys) along. Have the vendor answer questions to their satisfaction. Make sure that everyone’s got his checklist with him, and marks off features as he sees them demonstrated to his satisfaction. Remind your people to take notes; because it’s extremely difficult to remember an interactive package’s good and bad points – particularly when you’re looking over products.
It’s often a good idea to have demos scheduled at your site, so you can involve many of the future users of the software without drastically disrupting your business. Remote demos utilizing modems and speakerphones are generally pretty simple to set up, and work quite well. They give you the advantage of getting multiple smaller demos, and the flexibility of working around the demands and time constraints of your critical personnel.
Software packages can look very different, and sometimes a ‘pretty face’ can be deceptive. Make sure that you familiarize yourself with the software thoroughly enough to get a genuine feel for how it works. Don’t be fooled by cosmetics or glitz. Make sure the vendor gives you the time in demos to see below the surface.
Keep in mind that if you’re selecting software to use in all the aspects of running your business, it’s pretty unlikely that it’s going to function to your exact needs. You’re going to need to modify the way you do things a bit, or – in many cases – you’re going to need software modifications. If you see features that aren’t quite what you’ve got to have, talk it over with the vendor to find out how they envision changing the software. Make sure they’re just as interested in investigating the changes you’ll need as you are. Because if they’re not, they probably don’t care if they’re selling you software that’s not a good fit for your company.
Ask lots of questions. Whether or not you think they sound ‘stupid’. Remember to ask the ‘how many’ and ‘how big’ questions; some systems have strict size limitations and some don’t. And don’t take tech jargon for an answer. A real expert can explain things in language that makes sense to you.
Be sure that the person giving the demo has a stake in your after-sale satisfaction. The salesman’s primary interest is finished as soon as you sign the agreements and the checks. So insist on having someone there who is going to be responsible for making you happy long after you’ve purchased. If he’s going to have to deal with you after the sale, helping to make mods or giving you phone support, he has a personal interest in making sure that you and the software fit each other. He not only has more expertise in the details than the sales staff does, he has a stake in making sure you understand exactly what you’re getting before you buy. He’s going to give you honest answers. Because if the software becomes a nightmare for you, he’s going to be staying up nights, too.
Talk to the people that designed the software, if you can. Talk to the person who will be in charge of making mods about your specific customization needs. Get a feel for their understanding of what you want and need, and some specific ideas on how they envision modifying the software to make it fit you perfectly. Get to know the company you’ll be purchasing from, because no matter how wonderful their software, if your company can’t work closely and well with your software house, you’ll be in trouble later on. See how willing they are to answer your dumbest questions. Make sure you can communicate well with them. And make sure that they’re willing to give you a negative answer now and then, because if they don’t, it’s pretty likely they’re not being straight with you.
Keep in mind through the demo process that you’re ‘buying’ the software house as well as the software. Look over the personnel as well as their package. These people who will convert your data, customize and install your software, train your people, and (you hope) be there at the end of a phone line to keep the process going smoothly from the first time you log in and for years to come. These people are going to proverbially save your fanny when it’s on the line two years from now. Ask what happens when there’s a critical problem after hours. Make sure you believe that your vendor will jump through the extra hoop when you need them.
Check out references to verify what the vendor’s telling you. You can’t expect miracles, and you can’t guarantee that the people you’re talking to during the selection process are going to be around for the next several years. But at the very least, you should make sure that you’re choosing a company that you feel you can work with as a business partner now. Or you’re asking for trouble.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that the size of a software house translates into a guarantee of a successful installation. A smaller specialty shop might give you better, more personalized service than their largest competitor. Because you’ll be more important to them. The critical keys to keep in mind are: experience with your industry, expertise in satisfying their customer’s needs, and commitment to their product.
Don’t buy a lot of expensive hardware and then go looking for software. The hard-and-fast rule of thumb is and always has been – find the software solution first. Because otherwise you may be wasting your investment or eliminating some of your software choices. There are many hardware platforms, and all software doesn’t run or run well on all computers. Find your software first; it’s the more critical choice.
IT’S JUST COMMON SENSE
Some of the most vital ways to ensure a satisfactory software procurement are also pretty basic. And they don’t rely on your level of computer ‘expertise’. Search out the packages with proven reputations in profitable firms like yours. Use your staff’s expertise throughout the selection process. Give them a say and a stake in the success of the project. Get to know both the software and the people behind it really, really well before you buy. Find a company that’s flexible enough to change with the times, and resourceful and skilled enough to make their software fit your needs precisely.
In many ways the selection of software isn’t a lot different than the selection of any other business or manufacturing tool. But because of the expense involved, the complexity of the implementation, and the extent to which this software tool will pervade your business, make sure you use good common sense in selecting software. And then soon you’ll be concentrating on making plans for the expansions of your product line, your plant and your sales force. Because the software your staff logs into each morning will be providing you with the tools that help you to edge out the guy down the street.
CLaM Process Manufacturing Software
Perelandra Systems, Inc. 
P.O. Box 2413 Crystal
Lake, IL
60039-2413 USA
Phone: (815) 861-5692 Fax: (815) 459-5693
Email: Perelandra@pere.com
