Be Careful with High-Growth Cloud Software Vendors

Similar to the early 1990’s when ERP software was the hot new business solution, the cloud has brought a new wave of vendors that are starting to show a high rate of growth. These vendors include  Salesforce.com, Workday, Ultimate Software, Netsuite, and others. While these vendors may be the hot solutions of the day, you have to be really careful when you are considering such a solution. Make sure you don’t skip over the due diligence required in the decision making process just because everyone is talking about them.

The problem with being a high-flying software vendor is that they start to get their resources stretched. This means that they may have difficulty executing an implementation because they are so busy. You also have to be wary of the quality of implementation resources. Some companies grow so fast that they end up hiring inexperienced people. Make sure you do your due diligence by asking these questions:

• Can you get the experienced resources you need and when you need them for your project?
• How much experience do these resources have with the solution that you’re implementing?
• How much experience do they have with your industry?
• Are the proposed implementation resources their employees, an implementation partner or contractors?
• If they are using implementation partners and/or contractors, how long has this relationship been in place and how much experience do they have in successfully implementing the solution?
• How much are they relying on offshore employees or contractors to help with development and implementation services?
• What does training look like and can you schedule training when you need it?
• How about ongoing support?