Tips for attending exhibitions

Before the exhibition

1. Draw up a list of objectives for visiting the exhibition. Define what you wish to achieve eg to get an overview of certain types of software, see the latest software functionality, or to meet certain vendors.

2. Plan your visit. Make a shortlist of exhibitors, vendor demonstrations, educational or other sessions you wish to see. Don’t consider spending all day in vendor software demonstrations - they may end up sounding and looking alike and you may end up being totally confused. Plan a balance of visiting stands, meeting vendors, discussing your requirements, as well as attending demonstrations.

3. Mark the locations of the stands / demonstrations you wish to see on an exhibition layout planner so you know your way around the exhibition floor and can save time / avoid getting lost when you are there.

4. Attending with colleagues can help to determine which software to investigate further. However, plan in advance who is attending, who shall see what and when. Aim to cover all items, with colleagues splitting up to cover different parts of the exhibition.

5. Determine how you will get to the exhibition - so that you arrive on time and are able to complete everything. If you are attending for more than one day and need overnight accommodation, book well in advance of the date(s) required.

At the exhibition

6. Follow your visit plan. Ensure you cover the areas you wish to see. Don’t get side-tracked once at the exhibition - you can use any time left over at the end to visit other stands which look interesting.

7. If attending with colleagues - use the opportunity to quickly obtain a large amount of information and to network / create new contacts for later use. Work the exhibition - don’t just stay together or treat as a day out of the office!

8. Take a copy of your outline system requirements* with you - to refer to and / or raise key points with vendors / exhibitors.

9. Take plenty of business cards - to hand out to exhibitors and to save filling in their forms with your details.

10. Take a pen and small note pad for jotting down key items, demonstration notes, points of interest, contacts etc.

11. Attending exhibitions can be tiring. They can be hot (particularly in poorly ventilated demonstration rooms) and you may do a lot of walking. Be prepared - wear comfortable clothing and take regular refreshments throughout the day.


After the exhibition

12. Review the information you have obtained and write up notes / ideas as applicable. Discuss with colleagues. Then determine which software vendors you wish to follow up on and investigate further.

Accounting technology conferences and expo

There are many benefits of attending an accounting technology event - especially if you’re considering replacing your accounting software. These include:

•     improving your knowledge of the accounting software market, the latest trends and what’s available
•     checking out a software vendor’s latest offerings- in a low-key, informal way
•     comparing multiple vendors quickly and efficiently, in just one day

And it would be even more beneficial if you had details of what you need from your new accounting system. Gathering requirements and preparing a spec doesn’t have to be hard - the Accounting Software RFI/RFP Template can help you quickly and easily gather your requirements and prepare a requirements specification (and also a RFI and RFP).

Clicking a link below, will take you to the event website, where you can obtain more details such as the expo or conference contents, who’s exhibiting, locations and whether it’s chargeable or free to attend.

Although every attempt has been made to make the above calendar as accurate as possible, this cannot be guaranteed. For more details, contact the promoters directly.

Add a conference / expo - If you know of an Accounting Technology conference or expo which would be a useful to link to, please email brief details to info@axia-consulting.co.uk

Making the final software decision

Here is an easy process to follow to help you decide.

Steps:

1.  Gather all the information for each potential vendor and prepare a summary of the key criteria for each.

2.  Bring your project team together to jointly review the information, the summaries, discuss the pros and cons of each of the potential vendor solutions.

3.  Then, jointly rank each of the vendors against your key criteria.

Notes

(i)  Software functionality. Clearly the most important criteria, so focus on your key functional requirements and where the solution(s) from each vendor, differ from each other.

(ii)  Implementation. Even the best software will not work well, with a poor implementation. So you need to be very sure that you either have the skills, experience and resources on board, or can acquire these from the vendor, or other service providers, or by retraining existing employees.

(iii)  ROI (return on investment) / TCO (total costs of ownership). Re-check both calculations for 7 year time scale, for each vendor - as each vendor solution may have different benefits as well as different costs.

(iv)  Maintenance and support / SLA (Service Level Agreement). Be sure of what you are getting for your annual (or regular) payments, that it is appropriate and represents good value for money.

(v)  Software technology. Should be forward looking technology and either match that of your business or heading where you are heading. However, some forward looking technologies may be closer to where you are heading than others. (Solutions or vendors using old technology should have been removed at the RFI stage).

(vi)  The vendor. Their business strength, business and product direction, and how well you get on with the vendor are important. Equally, so is a process or arrangement to protect your investment in the software, should the vendor themselves be acquired or taken over by another organisation.

(vii)  In this example, we’ve included 6 key criteria for the project as a whole. You may have more criteria and may also wish to use some form of weighting and scoring rather than simple ranking. If so, amend your table accordingly.

Accounting software trends

The continued growth of web-based and web-enabled Accounting Software and systems, including:

•   Cloud computing / SaaS - wholly online accounting software
•   Hosted or combined online / on-premise accounting software services and systems (and the beginning of the reduction of solely on-premise accounting software)
•   Web services, web support
•   e-procurement, e-commerce, e-expenses systems and electronic payment integrated within accounting software
•   Web interfaces from 3rd party web-based systems such as e-expenses
•   Workflow functionality integrated within accounting software
•   Improving analytics, business intelligence and reporting
•   e-filing for taxation returns
•   Enhanced security - online and offline

Non-web Accounting Software trends - continued growth of:

•   Industry sector specific or vertical market solutions
•   Accounting software combined (or integrated) with specialised modules for industry specific needs / vertical markets (and the reduction of generic accounting systems)
•   Integration with other associated accounting software modules eg CRM (and the consequent reduction of stand-alone accounting systems)
•   Improved integration with 3rd party software
•   Seamless integration with 3rd party office products eg Excel, Word
•   Software scalability
•   Functionality and features added to accounting software
•   Accounting software suitable for large organisations, redesigned for medium and smaller sized businesses. And conversely accounting software that is suitable for small / medium sized businesses, extended to be suitable for medium / larger size businesses
•   International functionality of accounting software  - to support employees in multiple countries with multiple languages
•   Software customisation capabilities
•   Intuitive use of functionality / ease of use
•   Financial and accounting regulations
•   Using technology and workflow functionality to reduce operational accounts department costs
•   Faster software set up, implementation and upgrade time scales

Accounting Software market trends - continued growth of:

•   Replacing existing systems with web-based accounting software and web-enabling activities and processes
•   Competition, especially in the mid-range Accounting / ERP software market
•   Accounting software market / vendor consolidation

Project initiation checklist

You’ve finally got board approval to select a new software system - then what? You’ve actually got to do it! So, here is a quick ‘project initiation checklist’ of 30 things to consider at this stage. If you can tick everything ‘yes’ - you’re ready to start!

Ref Project Initiation Checklist
 
What is the software / system selection project?
 
1 Has the project proposal been approved by the board without any changes to the proposal? Or if the board has made changes, can you manage these?
2 Has sufficient funding been approved for the software selection phase?
3 Are the project objectives still the same as within the proposal?
4 Is the project scope (inclusions and exclusions), still the same as within the proposal?
5 Are the project deliverables still the same as within the proposal?
6 Have deliverables been defined for each stage within the software selection?
7 Have acceptance criteria been defined for each deliverable?
  When will the project be undertaken?
8 Have the start and completion dates been defined and agreed?
9 Have dates for the key deliverables within the project been defined and agreed?
  Who is involved with the project?
10 Provide names for:
  - project sponsor:
  - project manager:
  - project team:
  - key users:
  - user management (who are responsible for signing off the requirements and accepting the system selection deliverables):
11 Have all the roles and responsibilities been defined?
12 Have all the roles and responsibilities been communicated?
13 Do all resources (involved) have sufficient time available for the project?
14 Is project resourcing sufficient?
15 Do all resources have sufficient knowledge / skills to undertake their part in the project?
16 Have you prepared and issued a project organisational chart?
17 Does everyone understand their role within the project?

  How will the project be carried out?
 
18 Have you determined your project management / system selection methodology?
19 Have you prepared a revised (or final) project plan / gantt chart?
20 Are the responsibilities, milestones and deliverables clear?
21 Has this been issued and discussed with all involved?
22 Does everyone understand it?
23 Have you purchased tools to help you document your business requirements / select your new system? eg Axia’s System Requirements & RFI/RFP Templates
24 Have you set up project communications? eg planned regular (weekly) project meetings, defined an email list of other people to be kept informed?
25 Have you set up an issues escalation process?
26 Have you set up project monitoring? eg using a project management tool
27 Have you defined quality standards and specified how these will be maintained?
28 Have you reviewed your risk analysis and mitigation strategies?
29 Have you reviewed your project constraints / assumptions and checked that they are still valid?30 Have you created project contingencies? eg additional time, funding or resources which can be called upon if required

Consulting Profile

With skill backgrounds in Accounting, Payroll, HR, processes, project management and IT, we can rapidly contribute to time-critical projects by providing the expertise, focus and drive needed to meet key deadlines.

Axia Philosophy

Our philosophy is to involve client’s staff as much as possible, whilst providing the in-depth expertise. So client’s costs are minimised and all concerned obtain a complete understanding of the solution.

We believe in providing outstanding quality and excellent value for money.

We continuously aim to be responsive, flexible and provide personal attention to our client’s needs.

For more information about Axia’s services visit: consulting services / system selection and shortlisting service / client case outlines / commendations

The hidden costs of new software

One solution is to identify the total cost of ownership, not just the software, as clearly as you can prior to acquisition. If you establish and compare the total costs associated with each software package for 1 year and 5 years from the date of acquisition, you will have a much better idea of what to expect. Fairly obviously, a low cost for software does not necessarily mean that it is the best overall value.

Another solution is to look out for potential hidden costs and either include them or a contingency, and then manage them as best as possible at the time they occur. To help, here is a (not exhaustive) list of such potential hidden costs:

The software application licence - the modules you really need, rather than what you would like to have (or be talked into), what the prices are based on - number of concurrent system users, number of employees or records (eg for Human Resources Software), number of transactions or a mix of these? What are the different price bands? How it will work out for your organisation?

Training costs – number of days and day rate. What is the typical amount of training required for the average customer and specifically, what would be required for your organisation? What is the cost of setting up a training facility on your site? Or to use the vendor’s facilities?

Vendor support services fees eg for interface development, report writing, implementation consultancy assistance. Other support services eg contractors, temporary staff (plus their agency fees) to assist with the implementation. Annual licence fees – are these charged? And if so are they on top of, or instead of annual maintenance charges?