Skip to content
- Is it proprietary or commercially available? There are only very rare exceptions when proprietary technology offers advantages. On the surface, proprietary software may give you some temporary price advantages but in the medium and long-term the disadvantages (and costs) can be significant. Commercial systems give you the ultimate in both on-going upgrades and future flexibility.
- Is it a defined or custom database? Even some old-school systems use custom databases (even in SaaS solutions) which limit your flexibility. Custom (or configured) databases limit your ability to be easily upgraded in the future. The custom approach gives (theoretically) improved security and greater alignment with your individual needs but often comes with the same headaches and issues as proprietary systems.
- How quickly will I be up and running? If the answer is anything beyond 3 months raise a red flag. Unless you are bringing in a big, fancy iWMS system and knowingly making the big investment no modern system should take that long to get up and running. Moving all of your old data over may take time given clean-up and formatting requirements – but the system itself should be up fast.
- Do I own my data and can I get it (all of it) on request? No system should take away your ownership rights over your data. Period.
- How are you going to help me leverage my data for decisions? Data driven decisions are all the rate for good reason – they give you a basis for putting together high-quality decisions. Data shouldn’t just be locked away in a system to be pulled into spreadsheets one day, it should be accessible for reporting and analysis.
- How are you going to help me make sure I have good data? Always end with this one. You are going through a service provider for a system because you want more than just a database. A system with bad data may as well not even exist – and you certainly shouldn’t be paying for it.
Related