Investing in new software is risky. You begin looking for new tools because of a gap in your current system. You research solutions to solve specific pain points and choose the best software for your business. Once you implement it, you wait, hoping your new software will quickly pay for itself.
How can you ensure your software investment quickly pays for itself? Here are five points that can help you achieve rapid ROI with a new CTRM software.
- Choose a solution that integrates seamlessly with your other systems, so you can go live fast.
Your CTRM solution will not replace every piece of software in your business, so you need to ensure the software integrates quickly and seamlessly with your other business programs. Many manufacturers use CTRM to manage commodities and ERP for business management. Choose a software company with customer references that validate their experience integrating with SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, and more. - Automate as many manual processes as possible.
One of the biggest benefits of a modern CTRM system is replacing manual data entry, manual analyses, and manual reporting. The more processes you can automate, the more time you save. In commodity management, that time is money. Commodity prices are always changing, and you can miss opportunities if you are too slow. Automated processes eliminate errors as well, because humans make input mistakes, but computers do not. Fewer errors mean better decisions and faster ROI. - Do a business process review upfront, before you begin the implementation.
Doing a complete review of your business processes before beginning a new implementation ensures a faster implementation and a quicker ROI. A business process review reveals exactly what processes are working well, which ones aren’t, and how best to implement your new software to ensure you get exactly what you need. - Before you go live, run an exhaustive test with the new system using your data.
Revive the parallel test – we know it’s out of favor, but it’s essential. Yes, it adds time to the implementation process, but it’s much better to find issues before you go live than after. Run a parallel test for several days, or even weeks, to ensure the system works the way you need and your users know how to use it. - Make sure the software is easy to use.
One way to ensure rapid ROI is to choose software that is easy to use. The easier a system is to use, the faster you can train people to use it and the more they get out of it. If it’s easy to use, they will spend more time exploring all the possibilities, creating custom reports, digging deeper into insights, and finding new ways to benefit your business.
If you need rapid ROI, you need to choose a CTRM software that can go live fast, is easy to use, and fits well with your other systems.
With iRely’s CTRM, you will go live faster, onboard your team more rapidly, and speed up your business processes, delivering rapid ROI and better business results.