Is there an ‘off the shelf’ software package that will work for you?

It is always worth checking out what is already on the market. No point in reinventing the wheel when you could save a lot of time and expense by simply purchasing ‘off the shelf’.

Ways to find out
Contact your industry’s association as they often have recommendations.

Contact some of your industry colleagues and find out what they use. You will probably find some use industry specific software and some use home made Access or Excel systems. Some may already have a custom system in place.

You can search the internet – but be careful if you choose an overseas product that the support is valid for New Zealand. If it is take into account the time difference and cost of contacting support.

Remember: your business may be unique and have processes not likely to be used by many (if any) other businesses. If this is the case then ‘off the shelf’ software may not exist since the market for such unique software would be small.