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People Helping People Build a Safer World
7. Do they offer 24/7 support?
It is not unusual that inspection staff assembles at 6:00 AM to plan the day’s work and get deployed. So, if a
software glitch prevents access to data at that hour, a large number of staffs may be waiting for work till the
glitch gets fixed. A manual back-up system must therefore be available at least for the first year until the system
stabilizes. Unfortunately, not every problem you experience will happen between 9 am and 5 pm. Find out if
the vendor offers 24/7 technical support and if there are any extra fees to access support during off hours or
weekends and holidays. Also ensure the vendor offers both email and phone support because email support
alone may not get you the quick turnaround you need. Another question to ask… what is the average response
time to a customer support request?
8. Why have customers left them and chosen other software providers?
Most people ask for referrals, but did you ever think to ask why customers have chosen to leave a provider?
Remember, every company is going to have customers that leave so don’t let their answer scare you, but a
software vendor’s answer to this question will tell you how involved they are with their customers and how they
view themselves as a provider. Speak with other businesses who are using their software, join social media sites
that have consignment/resale groups and ask questions through LinkedIn groups. Just because a business has
been around for a long time doesn’t mean they are the best at what they do. Also, multiple people from different
functions of the department should be interviewed to obtain a fair feedback.
9. What type of training is provided for you and your employees?
This is one area you need to be blunt and open, so they know who all are to be trained and what level of
redundancy is needed for each task. In doing this, the level of training must be related to the user level. For
instance, an inspector, an IT person, a financial person or the permit staff all require customized training
utilizing a curriculum that matches their tIf this is your first software system, or you are considering a change,
there is always a learning curve. Make sure you know what type of training is provided for you. Will the training
be provided for everyone in your business? Is there a fee to participate? Is the training live so you can ask
questions?
10. Does the software provider offer a cloud-based solution?
More and more companies are offering this solution which can have tremendous benefits worth considering.
There is less possibility of viruses or other malicious software impacting your day to day operations. We have
recently seen in a large jurisdiction were there computer network was impacted for several months due to a
malware. Many software solutions require the transfer of large format files and this can require a significant
amount of storage. By using a cloud-based system these two concerns are addressed.
11. Efficiencies gained.
Determine what the real goals and expectations are. Software companies demonstrate all that technology has
to offer yet the full capabilities greatly depend on the customer wishing to employ them. For example, Internet
bandwidth, wireless connectivity and specific devices all must be reviewed for their limits, prior to creating user
and customer expectation.
12. Groundwork
In order to implement a new program or software the groundwork must be done first. Every organizational
process must be mapped out in detail. This will identify steps within processes that are vital or required and
steps that may eliminated.
CONCLUSION
The Major Jurisdiction Committee recognizes that modern technology and new software solutions can transform the way
we work in local government and serve our customers. The expectation is to save time that otherwise is spend on manual
and very tedious tasks, but it is important to approach any new implementation with a lot of scrutiny. It is our intent that
the information provided in this paper will serve as a guide for this process.
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