Top 54 Call Center Workforce Management Software (Jun 2023)

2023's Best 55 Call Center Workforce Management Systems

Shlomi LaviShlomi Lavi / Jun 10, 2023

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1. 8x8 Contact Center

  • Best for: SMBs
  • Price: starts at $15 per user/month
  • Mar 09, 2022
Compare 8x8 Contact Center Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

8x8 Virtual Contact Center is a cloud-based call center solution that delivers greater productivity and flexible call center management. It works with 8x8 Virtual Office VoIP phone service to give users an easy-to-use yet extremely powerful contact center.   8x8 Virtual Contact Center was develope...


2. Nextiva Business VoIP

  • Best for: Start up, Small business, Medium business, Large business
  • Price: starts at $11.95 per user/month
  • Jan 16, 2023
Compare Nextiva Business VoIP Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Nextiva Business VoIP is cloud-based communication, collaboration, call center and telephony services designed for small businesses in multiple industry verticals. The solution helps the user eliminate the need for the traditional phone system.


3. Five9 Cloud Contact Center

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $100 per feature/month
  • Apr 03, 2022
Compare Five9 Cloud Contact Center Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Five9 Cloud Contact is a cloud-based contact center software helping users in the management of their inbound and outbound, multi-channel or blended contact centers.


4. Telax Hosted Call Center

  • Best for: SMBs
  • Price: starts at $35 per user/month
  • Dec 14, 2022
Compare Telax Hosted Call Center Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Intermedia is a web-based contact center software that can offer users a cost effective and flexible customer service. It can reduce the costs and headaches of implementation, support and management of complex technologies. Users can get started with Intermedia anytime they want as it doesn’t requir...


5. inContact Cloud Contact Center

  • Best for: SMBs
  • Price: starts at $90 per user/month
  • Jun 02, 2022
Compare inContact Cloud Contact Center Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

The NICE CXone is designed to help users to increase their market share and their profitability.


6. XenCALL Predictive Dialer

  • Best for: SMBs
  • Price: starts at $125 per license/month
  • Dec 12, 2022
Compare XenCALL Predictive Dialer Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

ReadyMode is a cloud-based call center that is suitable for operations in businesses of all sizes from small-sized businesses, to large enterprises across numerous industries.


7. Huawei eSpace

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $50 per month
  • Apr 17, 2022
Compare Huawei eSpace Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

eSpace is a business VoIP solution for businesses of all sizes. It offers such capabilities as call transfers over WiFi, routing of incoming calls, voicemail support, and others. The software was designed and launched by Huawei Technologies Co Ltd headquartered in China.


8. OXON

  • Best for: SMBs
  • Price: starts at $39 per feature/month
  • May 15, 2022
Compare OXON Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

OXON is a cloud-based contact center management system that is developed to give users with a centralized and single platform for the management of customer communication.


9. Aceyus Call Center

  • Best for: Medium and large size businesses
  • Price:
  • May 15, 2022
Compare Aceyus Call Center Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

The Aceyus Call Center is developed to help users in the optimization of their contact center operations through reporting, data collection, and data transformation solutions and contact treatment management.


10. QueueMetrics

  • Best for: Large business
  • Price: starts at $500 per year
  • May 16, 2022
Compare QueueMetrics Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

QueueMetrics is a call center software developed as a call center monitoring platform for controlling, measuring, and improving all facets of a call center.


Pricing Guide - Call Center Workforce Management Software:

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software Price Range

Most CRM software in the market are priced on a per-user, per-month basis; hence, businesses can expect to pay between the range of $10 to $200 per user monthly. There are also some CRM products with yearly pricings and others with perpetual licenses.

The above price range depends on the sophistication of the CRM products feature-wise, as well as the number of user accesses or accounts paid for. Some CRM software within the above price ranges are Zendesk Sell, which starts from $19 monthly per user, FreeAgent CRM pricing starts from $25 monthly per user, and GreenRope costs between $149 for up to 1,000 contacts to $699 for up to 50,000 contacts.

In addition, CRM products target different sizes of organizations, and their price ranges are as follows:

  • Small Businesses can expect to pay between the range of $10 to $25 for CRM software. The prices are set on a per user per month basis. For example, Zoho CRM costs $12 per user per month, Fresh Sales costs $13 per user, per month, and Copper pricing starts $19 per user per month. In addition to this, some products offer small businesses very basic packages which can be gotten for free.
  • Medium Businesses can expect to pay between $25 to $50 for CRM software. While most products for medium-sized businesses are priced on a per user, per month basis, the number of employees or registered users will determine the prize of the software per user. For example, Hubspot costs up to $30 per user monthly but $50 monthly for two users. Others are Benchmark ONE, which costs $40 monthly per user, and Skynamo, which is priced at $46 per user monthly.
  • Large Businesses can expect prices that fall within $50 to $200 for CRM products. CRM offerings for large business organizations typically come with more features; hence, there may be separate fees for installation, setup, or training. Some CRM software within this tier are FreeAgent CRM, which costs $130 price monthly per user; GreenRope costs between $149 for up to 1,000 contacts to $699 for up to 50,000 contacts , and Quick Base pricing falls around $500 monthly for a number of users.

CRM best of breeds and their price ranges are as follows:

  • Marketing Automation Software Marketing automation products can be divided into three tiers, each carrying prices that range from $0 to $19, $19 to $50, and $50 upwards, respectively. For instance, Active Campaign pricing starts from $15 monthly per user, Hubspot Marketing Automation costs up to $50 per user monthly, and Integrated Marketing Portal pricing is around $50 per user monthly.
  • Lead Management Software The pricing for Lead management products in the market usually varies between $11 and $60 upwards. These price ranges depend on the level of the products offerings and the number of registered users per month. For example, SalesExec pricing starts from $65 per user monthly, Salesforce Essentials costs around $25 per user monthly, and Lead Capsule pricing starts from around $500 per month for a number of years.
  • SalesForce Automation Software SalesForce automation products pricing ranges from $13 to $50 upwards, depending on the level of their offerings and the number of registered accounts per month. The prices are set per user, per month; hence, SAA software pricing like Really Simple System starts from $14 per user monthly, Pepperi pricing is around $48 per user monthly, and Cliently costs up to $39 per user per month.
  • Contact Management Software Most contact management products in the market are priced on a per month basis, and there are typically set limits to the number of contacts each user can manage on the software. Depending on the level of offers, prices may fall between $0 to $14, $14 to $25, and $25 to $400. For example, Infloflo pricing starts from around $100 per month, DejaOffice PC CRM costs up to $50 monthly, and AirTable pricing starts from $14 per month.
  • Email Marketing Software Email marketing products are priced per month, and there are usually limits on the number of subscribers or emails for each user monthly. The prices range from $0 and $30 upwards, depending on the package level. For example, Constant Contact pricing starts from $20 per month, SendinBlue pricing starts from $25 per month, and Campaigner costs around $19 per month.

11. Infinit

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $6 per user/month
  • Feb 16, 2022
Compare Infinit Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Infinit is a document management software designed as a decentralized cloud platform for file storage.


12. 3CLogic Cloud Contact Center

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price:
  • May 18, 2022
Compare 3CLogic Cloud Contact Center Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

3CLogic cloud is a cloud-based multichannel contact center solution designed to serve organizations of any size whether in the large market or small-level markets enterprises. The platform targets enterprises that want to add a voice element to their CRM and modernize their legacy solutions.


13. Enghouse Interactive Contact Center

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $75 per user/month
  • May 23, 2022
Compare Enghouse Interactive Contact Center Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Enghouse Interactive Contact Center is a call center software offering users with multi-channel contact management, operator attendant console, interactive voice response/IVR, quality assessment and call recording.


14. Parakeet

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $15 per user/month
  • Dec 13, 2022
Compare Parakeet Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Parakeet is an award-winning cloud-based Call Center software, it is designed to support small, medium and large size call centers. Parakeet received a rating of 2.5 from ITQlick team. The software cost is considered affordable (1/5) when compared to alternative solutions.


15. Metaphor IVR+

  • Best for: Medium and large size businesses
  • Price:
  • May 25, 2022
Compare Metaphor IVR+ Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Metaphor IVR+ is a fast growing cloud-based Call Center software, it is designed to support medium and large size call centers. Metaphor IVR+ received a rating of 4 from ITQlick team. The software cost is considered affordable (1/5) when compared to alternative solutions.


16. TrackMyLeads

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $99 per month
  • Jun 07, 2022
Compare TrackMyLeads Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

TrackMyLeads is a growing cloud-based CRM software, it is designed to support small, medium and large size business. TrackMyLeads received a rating of 2.5 from ITQlick team. The software cost is considered affordable (1/5) when compared to alternative solutions.


17. X5 Cloud Contact Center

  • Best for: SMBs
  • Price: starts at $25 per user/month
  • Jun 10, 2022
Compare X5 Cloud Contact Center Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

X5 Cloud Contact Center is a call center software designed to help companies marketing and call centers reach out to customers while increasing agent productivity by curtailing the wait time between calls.


18. Noda Contact Center

  • Best for: Medium and large size businesses
  • Price: Has a free version
  • Jun 14, 2022
Compare Noda Contact Center Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Noda Contact Center is a call center software that helps users create conversational scripts containing important information accessible to operators when they receive a call.


19. Clicktools For Sugarcrm

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $84.53 per year
  • Dec 16, 2022
Compare Clicktools For Sugarcrm Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Clicktools for SugarCRM is a customer information management solution for businesses of all sizes. Its capabilities include marketing management, data centralization, automatic insights, and others. The software was developed and launched by Clicktools Ltd headquartered in United Kingdom.


20. EducationFolder

  • Best for: Medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $15 per license/month
  • Dec 17, 2022
Compare EducationFolder Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

EducationFolder, now C2Perform, is a performance management software for businesses to improve KPIs, refine and improve their coaching experience and sessions, create various contents, and drive continuous improvements insight.


21. CC-One

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $359.88 per year
  • Jun 22, 2022
Compare CC-One Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

CC-One is a SaaS-based call center software that enables contact center administrators to manage omnichannel customer voice, email, and chat interactions and maintain collaboration between back-office personnel and front desk agents.


22. RingCentral Contact Center

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $14.99 per user/month
  • Jun 22, 2022
Compare RingCentral Contact Center Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

RingCentral Contact Center is a comprehensive call center management software that can be accessed in the cloud, scalable and an end-to-end communication solution.


23. FrontSpin

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: Has a free version
  • Jun 22, 2022
Compare FrontSpin Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

FrontSpin is a cloud-based contact center management solution offer users with interactive tools for the management of sales and service communication. Its sales communication solution can streamline the sale cycle.


24. Cloud Contact Pro

  • Best for: Medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $25 per month
  • Jun 23, 2022
Compare Cloud Contact Pro Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Cloud Contact Pro is a call center software designed to help organizations set up a future-proof contact center in the cloud.


25. itPBX

  • Best for: SMBs
  • Price: starts at $19.95 per user/month
  • Jun 25, 2022
Compare itPBX Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

itPBX is a business VoIP solution designed for businesses of all sizes. It offers such capabilities as call center management, contact management, predictive dialing, and others. The software was designed and launched by itPBX headquartered in North Carolina, United States.


26. Sales Service Cloud

  • Best for: Start up, Small business, Medium business, Large business
  • Price: starts at $25 per user/month
  • Jun 23, 2022
Compare Sales Service Cloud Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Sales Service Cloud is a customer service software that can help users to manage their customer service from any device, anytime, anywhere. Users can also include the one-touch service directly in their products. Whether you are online from smartphone or a desktop, you have everything to resolve pro...


27. Synchrony

  • Best for: Medium and large size businesses
  • Price:
  • Jun 25, 2022
Compare Synchrony Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Synchrony is a customer relationship management solution for businesses of all sizes. It offers such capabilities as contact management, content management, activity management, and others. The software was designed and launched by Cincom Systems Inc headquartered in Ohio, United States.


28. Aspect Zipwire

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price:
  • Jun 24, 2022
Compare Aspect Zipwire Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Zipwire is a customer relationship management solution for businesses of all sizes. It offers inbound and out-bound support capabilities along with real time analytics and integration capabilities. The software was designed and launched by Aspect Software headquartered in Massachusetts, ...


29. Centurion

  • Best for: SMBs
  • Price:
  • Mar 31, 2022
Compare Centurion Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Centurion is a call center software designed for businesses to grant customers access to information, schedules and confirm appointments, and automates routine tasks using an IVR system.


30. Microlog

  • Best for: Small businesses and start ups
  • Price:
  • Apr 19, 2022
Compare Microlog Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Microlog is a communication software designed to help organizations keep their customers informed and engaged. This software uses text and emails to ensure that information is transferred for multiple uses, including healthcare reminders to patients, prescription refill reminders and medical shippin...


31. Surfboard

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $10 per user/month
  • Jun 10, 2023
Compare Surfboard Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Surfboard makes scheduling across different timezones a breeze. Organise your team in a few clicks. Remove the chaos of managing different timezones. Achieve fast, frictionless and fair scheduling.


32. Intradiem

  • Best for: Large business
  • Price:
  • Apr 24, 2023
Compare Intradiem Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Intradiem is a leading provider of intelligent automation solutions for contact centers, back-office operations, and retail stores. One of Intradiem key features is its real-time automation capabilities. Unlike other automation solutions that rely on pre-programmed rules and workflows, Intradiem pla...


33. DialerAI

  • Best for: Medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $199 per month
  • May 07, 2022
Compare DialerAI Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Predictive dialling and Voice broadcasting is a cost effective and efficient way of talking to your existing customers and generating leads maximising your outbound call-center performance


34. Business VoiceEdge

  • Best for: Small businesses and start ups
  • Price: starts at $64.99 per month
  • Dec 20, 2022
Compare Business VoiceEdge Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Business VoiceEdge is a cloud-based business VoIP solution for businesses of all sizes. It offers such services as voicemail support, call forwarding, music on hold, and others. The software was developed and launched by Comcast Corporation headquartered in Pennsylvania, United States.


35. Parrot Cloud Call Center

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $59 per month
  • Jul 24, 2022
Compare Parrot Cloud Call Center Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

EVS7 is a call center software designed to help agents provide better service to customers. Embedded in the software are interactive voice response and automatic call distribution to help improve inbound call center.


36. Genesys Contact Centre

  • Best for: Medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $75 per month
  • Jul 30, 2022
Compare Genesys Contact Centre Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Genesys Contact Centre is call center software dedicated to provide enhanced business results and meet customers’ expectations through modernization of the users’ processes and infrastructure. It was designed to make the upkeep of the personalized Omni-channel customer experience more efficient. ...


37. QwikDial

  • Best for: Small businesses and start ups
  • Price: starts at $0.06 per month
  • Jul 31, 2022
Compare QwikDial Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

QwikDial is a call center software with a toolset to help streamline business processes. With the software, users can manage inbound call flow processes and keep up compliance for payment authorizations.


38. ContactWorld Software

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price:
  • Jul 29, 2022
Compare ContactWorld Software Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

ContactWrold software is a Cloud-hosted Contact Centre software that is built for Salesforce. The platform allows businesses to connect their agents instantly to customers and prospects over the phone, social media or through email. ContactWorls software is a product of NewVoiceMedia, a company esta...


39. NICE inContact Cloud Contact Center

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $100 per user/month
  • Sep 10, 2022
Compare NICE inContact Cloud Contact Center Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Nice inContact is an online contact center software that helps clear centers build a lasting customer relationship by detecting and increasing calls in peak periods and reducing call abandon rates.


40. Twilio

  • Best for: Medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $1 per hour
  • Aug 01, 2022
Compare Twilio Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Twilio software is a cloud communication platform with building blocks that help users to add voice, messaging and video to their web as well as mobile applications.


41. FluentStream Call Center

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $20 per user/month
  • Sep 29, 2022
Compare FluentStream Call Center Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

FluentStream Call Center is a contact center management software offering users with dynamic solutions for business phone systems.


42. PureCloud

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $75 per month
  • Sep 28, 2022
Compare PureCloud Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Genesys is a call centre software designed as an online tool with which businesses can connect phones, chat, email, and social pages seamlessly.


43. Cisco Call Center

  • Best for: Medium and large size businesses
  • Price:
  • Sep 29, 2022
Compare Cisco Call Center Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

The Cisco Call Center is a contact management software that can be deployed on-premise or via cloud that enables the users to become agile in their interactions with customers


44. Humach Interaction Engine

  • Best for: Medium business
  • Price:
  • Sep 29, 2022
Compare Humach Interaction Engine Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Humach Interaction Engine is a cloud-based platform designed with patented dynamic scalability allowing users to improve their customer sales and support on demand at minimized costs.


45. VanillaSoft

  • Best for: Small businesses and start ups
  • Price: starts at $80 per month
  • Sep 19, 2022
Compare VanillaSoft Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

VanillaSoft is customer relationship management software and lead management built for small businesses. Its key features include inbound web lead capture, email marketing, call recording, live monitoring and eavesdrop, Salesforce integration, team-based selling and more.


46. PhoneBurner

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $127 per user/month
  • Jan 26, 2023
Compare PhoneBurner Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

PhoneBurner is cloud-based outbound call center software that enables its users to log in to their PCs from anywhere and perform dial sessions from any phone. It offers a delay-free dialer that ensures that users can call their contacts without them knowing that one is using the software.


47. ChaseData Call Center

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $89 per agent/month
  • Oct 11, 2022
Compare ChaseData Call Center Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

ChaseData Call Center is a leading cloud-based Call Center software, it is designed to support small, medium and large size call centers. ChaseData Call Center received a rating of 4.8 from ITQlick team. The software cost is considered affordable (1/5) when compared to alternative solutions.


48. Freshcaller

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $25 per month
  • Apr 01, 2022
Compare Freshcaller Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Freshcaller is a trending cloud-based Call Center software, it is designed to support small, medium and large size call centers. Freshcaller received a rating of 4.4 from ITQlick team. The software cost is considered affordable (1.2/5) when compared to alternative solutions.


49. PIMS Dialer

  • Best for: Small businesses and start ups
  • Price: starts at $150 per user/month
  • Feb 01, 2023
Compare PIMS Dialer Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

PIMS Dialer is a web based predictive dialing solution for businesses of all sizes. Its capabilities include call monitoring, call scheduling, FCC compliance, and others. The software was designed and launched by Pimsware LLC headquartered in Georgia, United States.


50. Avatar Dialler

  • Best for: Start up, Small business, Medium business, Large business
  • Price: starts at $100 per license
  • Oct 20, 2022
Compare Avatar Dialler Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Dialer360 is an award-winning cloud-based Call Center software, it is designed to support small, medium and large size call centers. Dialer360 received a rating of 3 from ITQlick team. The software cost is considered affordable (1.5/5) when compared to alternative solutions.


51. AloTech

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $69 per month
  • Feb 18, 2022
Compare AloTech Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

AloTech is a growing cloud-based Call Center software, it is designed to support small, medium and large size call centers. AloTech received a rating of 4.3 from ITQlick team. The software cost is considered affordable (2/5) when compared to alternative solutions.


52. OmniTouch Call Center

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price:
  • Feb 21, 2022
Compare OmniTouch Call Center Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

OmniTouch Call Center is a software offering users with scalable and reliable solution for contact center needs to as much as 5,000 agents and is driven by voice interactions.


53. XCALLY

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price:
  • Feb 19, 2022
Compare XCALLY Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

XCALLY is a complete, cloud-based Omni channel Contact Center solution built to serve outbound/inbound/ blended and Omnichannel call centers. The software integrates the Asterisk™ with Shuttle & Motion technologies from Xenialab research center.


54. Tenfold Sales Dialer

  • Best for: Small, medium and large size businesses
  • Price: starts at $20 per user/month
  • Feb 26, 2022
Compare Tenfold Sales Dialer Vs. 8x8 Contact Center

Tenfold Sales Dialer is a software designed to enhance the customer experience of the user in which every customer data is combined giving the users a unified view.



A Buyer's Guide to Business Software Solutions

How to Evaluate and Buy Business Software
 
If you’re somehow puzzled if this article is only for a specific size of business, no, it’s not. This is for you SMEs, MNEs and start-ups software buyers. Also, we’re not talking about a specific software solution here. Whether the software solution that you’re planning to buy is for Accounting, Business Intelligence, ERP, CRM, Help Desk, Maintenance Management or other types of application, one thing is for sure; with the help of this article, you will be able to know the right process in evaluating and buying a business software solution.
 
We’ve been into the software business for years and we’re seeing a lot of nitty-gritty things that often bring confusions and hesitations to many companies looking for better software solutions. Some companies can’t afford to let go their legacy systems while a few is encountering technological snags once the new system is in place. While this is the underlying truth behind software acquisition and implementation, what’s exciting about buying a business software solution is that there is a clear and obvious proof that thousands of companies and corporations today are happy with the benefits this technology is bringing into their respective businesses.  There is a significant increase in their revenue and the growth is on-going. And it’s easy to say; many from the Fortune 500 companies are making a lot of money because of their smartly-acquired business software.
 
So, let’s get straight to the point. What should you do in order to acquire that business software that could make your organization achieve its goals? The answer to this is pretty straightforward: evaluate and buy that right business software. Yes, that’s what you need to do and here’s the best manual from ITQlick.com that could certainly help you in doing that strategically.
 
Consider the Needs of Your Organization
Let’s assume that at this point, the entire management team agreed that you are ready to invest on a certain software application. The budget has been compromised and the key persons who will be involved in the acquisition process were already identified. Therefore, it’s time to approach things the project management way.
 
Define the Project
Every business software solution is categorized base on application type, features, deployment model, market size and pricing model. Remember that our objective here is to evaluate and buy a business software product that will fit into the size and present needs of your business. So what the project management team should try to deal with first is to define the real requirements of your business exactly base on the categories set by the software industry. Moreover, by doing this activity, you are already narrowing down your search for the right solution. Now, consider bringing this list of FAQs to the project management and aim to come up with clear-cut answers.
 
  1. What type of software is needed? Is it Integrated-Suite, Best-of-Breed or Industry-Specific? Ask your CEO’s main agenda and find the perfect match from these available options.
  2. What are the core and secondary features? Are you looking for basic, advanced or hi-end features? List down the specific features per category and allow the department managers and supervisors to give their insights on this list.
  3. How are you going to deploy the system? Would it be on-premise, cloud-based, hosted, or mobile-based? Weigh these options with the help of your CIO.
  4. Are you going for Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3 vendors? Their offered solutions are base on the size of their target market - SMEs, MNEs or start-ups. Seek your CFO’s advice as it is important to match your financial capacity against the cost of the solution that the providers have for you.
  5. Are you willing to pay for the perpetuity software license or a subscription-based solution is way better? How many users are there and what would be their roles in using the system? Solicit feedbacks from future end users for they know better what challenges and risks might possibly come along their way when they’re using the system.
 
Finalize the BOM or List of Requirements
After providing definite answers on the above questions, we can say that the project has already been defined. Your procurement team is now ready to do their role in the acquisition process of this solution. However, in order for them to execute their job properly, they must have the complete list of requirements - features, specifications, hardware, and the software product. In other words, the Bill-of-Materials (BOM) that is final, complete and well-prepared must be handed over to the procurement director. Needless to say, it is very important that everybody is following the company purchasing and procurement protocols at all times.  
 
Request for Proposal (RFP)
The RFP process will bring everything into formality. Since you’re more likely in a line of business that doesn’t regularly buy software products, it is of critical importance that your RFP is well-structured before you send it to your prospect solution providers.
 
Draft the RFP
An RFP that contains all the relevant information as discussed during the project management meetings will enable the providers to return back to you their proposal that is complete and substantial. Therefore, your RFP should basically contain the following:
 
Brief Introduction
  • Company Name
  • Mission and Goals
  • Purpose of the RFP (or the need for software solution)
Business Background
  • Organizational Structure
  • Current Situation (IT infrastructure, system currently in-use, system issues and desired solutions, etc.)
  • Major Objectives of the Software Purchase
Request for Specific Requirements
  • Solution Functionality
  • System Specifications
  • Vendor Company Information
  • Price Model, Service Plans, Package Options
Other Important Inquiries (if necessary)
 
Send the RFP
Well-structured RFP will bring a lot of advantages especially when the proposals from various providers are received and then subjected for review and analysis. Send your RFP to at least three to five providers (or prospects which you have already shortlisted during the project definition phase). Depending on the complexity of the solution, most vendors will send their proposal in a matter of time, which could be around 4 to 6 weeks for Integrated-Suite solution.
 
Why still send RFP?
Is there really a need for RFP if your preferred solution (like cloud-based) and the service plans or packages are already displayed on the vendor’s website? Well, yes, you still need to undergo the RFP process. For most sales people, they certainly know that those figures appearing in the vendor’s website are usually the “list price” and not the “actual price”. More importantly, the vendor’s proposal (response to RFP) will serve as your main basis for the negotiation. Therefore, sending an RFP is a strict requirement.
 
Follow up questions relevant to RFP
More often than not, questions and concerns will be raised by the vendors to whom you send the RFP. You have to entertain them with utmost professionalism. Solution providers who are seeking further clarifications relevant to the RFP are consisting of professional software experts who wants to help your organization as much as they can. Entertain them but at the same time, always be cautious when providing additional information which you know is confidential or proprietary.
 
Evaluate the Proposals
Always refer to your finalized BOM when tabulating the contents of each proposal. Part of this process is to check the features that are available from this certain vendor and to cross out those that are not. While using spreadsheet aids the tabulation process, laying down the document proposals on the table and allowing your project management team to review them one by one should always be conducted. Evaluating the proposals in full force can help strengthen your decision-making process. Have another round of brain-storming session and come with the name of your preferred solution provider.
 
When selecting the final vendor, always promote the best interest of your organization. Consider answering these questions with full sincerity.
 
  1. Which vendor can provide the long-term benefits to your organization?
  2. Which vendor can provide the best and honest service from acquisition to full implementation?
  3. Which vendor is willing to devote most of its time in better serving its client?
 
Contact this solution provider and in your own strategic approach, try to get the answers to those three important questions above. In most cases, vendor who really wants to prove its craft will offer product demos on a higher level. Others will even invite you to check their already deployed and working systems. Feel free to connect with this type of vendor. Conduct simulation and testing, be it a cloud-based or on-premise solution. Examine all aspects and angles especially those that your project management team want to really know in-depth. For as long as it could help you arrive at a better decision, consider doing all the options available – for the interest of the organization.
 
Enter the Negotiation Process
Most solutions providers can be flexible in terms of pricing. Although the final say is oftentimes on the mouth of the sales person from the vendor’s side, a good negotiation process can always deliver a win-win situation to both parties involve. While negotiation sometimes cannot be settled in one sitting session, always be honest with your intentions whenever negotiating with your provider. If it’s about your budget, justify it with clarity. If it’s about their service plans, tell them what’s lacking or missing on their solution. At the end of the day, the most important event that should happen is that both of you are shaking hands because of a well done negotiation process.
 
Seal the Contract
So what are you going to do on a contract that involves a significant amount of investment? There are three project management approaches for this.
 
  1. Pass the ball to you legal team. They know what to do and more or less they will tell you if there is something wrong with the contract. Give them enough time to review before they affix their signature and then finally seal the contract.
  2. Hire a consultant base on the technical aspect that you want to clarify in the contract. If it’s the Scope of Work (SOW), a software implementation expert is the right person. If it is related to complex legal terms and conditions, a lawyer can help. If it has something to do with money, invite an accountant to conduct a thorough review and computation if necessary.
  3. Always consider consulting your project management team. Remember that the CIO, CFO and CEO are all team members. They will be the signatories and they know what’s best for the interest of the company when signing a contract agreement.
 
From evaluation to buying stage, it is important that the project manager must take full responsibility of monitoring all the works identified and distributed among team members. This is why delegating the right project manager is also an important consideration when buying a business software solution. And again, ITQlick.com wants to emphasize that whatever the size of your company is, using the project management approach will always lead you into a better outcome – that is getting what you paid for the right business software solution. 

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Auditor - Shlomi Lavi

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Shlomi Lavi is an entrepreneur and founder of ITQlick.com. He holds a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Information Systems Engineering from Ben Gurion University in Israel. Shlomi brings 17 years of global IT and IS management experience as a consultant and implementation expert for small, medium and large-sized (global) companies. Shlomi’s goal is to share the best knowledge and news about information systems so you can make smarter buying decisions for your business.