It seems to be a problem with every sales prospect I talk with that they have plenty of data but not a lot of useful information—information that is needed to make informed decisions.

When you are looking at new software, keep your eye on the information that is needed by your organization in order to make these important decisions and ask the vendor how it can EASILY be not only generated by your ERP and/or CRM system but also distributed to those individuals that require the information. Mkae sure that useful information is getting our and not just lists of items.

Sounds easy doesn’t it? But it isn’t alwasy so clear cut. That is where a business process analysis that looks at your inputs, the processs of reviewing, selecting and recording those inputs and then looking at the outputs from the process helps greatly to keep the focus of the software implementation on the information generated.