A free trial is a cost-free opportunity to look into a viable solution, make an informed decision, envision the transition, and lay the groundwork for upcoming changes. This blog post is intended to navigate you through the trial stage and help you make the most of it.
Before you commit
We’ve been getting system questionnaires from potential customers and we must say - this attitude is commendable. We encourage all our trial users to ask as many questions as possible before or while doing a trial. It’s also important to make sure the right person or people are testing out the system.
Before you commit to any inventory control software, be sure to check out its:
Making use of all the resources
There is nothing like a live demo to give you a better idea of whether the software is worth trialing. You can send in a list of things you’d like to see demoed to the vendor beforehand, so you can cut to the chase and see the benefits in real time (or see none).
Youtube is your first go-to resource once you’ve started the trial. Quick tutorial videos will help you navigate the system is a more efficient way than working it out on your own.
- Barcoding capabilities. What barcode types can it read and generate? Can it print barcode labels?
- Transaction creation. Is it intuitive? Does it meet your business needs? Is automation at the right level?
- Synchronization between accounting and inventory. Can you accounting software understand the data coming from your inventory app, and vice versa?
- Mobile app. Is there one? Is it user-friendly enough for your field workers to get the hang of? Does it offer enough functionality for warehouse work?
- Vendor responsiveness. Have they been in touch and helpful during your trial?
Making use of all the resources
There is nothing like a live demo to give you a better idea of whether the software is worth trialing. You can send in a list of things you’d like to see demoed to the vendor beforehand, so you can cut to the chase and see the benefits in real time (or see none).
Youtube is your first go-to resource once you’ve started the trial. Quick tutorial videos will help you navigate the system is a more efficient way than working it out on your own.
Wiki or knowledge base is a step-by-step guide to the ins and outs of the system where you can search by keyword and get answers to your questions even more quickly than by browsing through the vendor’s video collection on Youtube.
It may seem the in-depth approach takes away too much time now but delving into the system now will eventually pay off in terms of the reduced learning curve and faster transition to a new way of doing things down the road.
How can your small business change in 14 days?
The changes you’ll see take place by the end of week 2 will surely depend on your testing progress. From the experience of HandiFox Online users, there’s definitely some groundwork laid for a future major revamp of inventory management by that time. In two weeks’ time, you will have
- tested how QuickBooks Online and HandiFox work together
- got fully-barcoded
- got a taste of how inventory tracking, purchasing, order fulfilment, and sales processes could be automated
- gone mobile by starting to use our Android or iOS apps in the field
- seen a way to unify and synchronize the work of yours teams/departments
Here is your access to a free 14-day trial of HandiFox. Use it well:-)