Shortlisting software providers for your home care business

If you have been following our implementing care software blog series, you may have already read all about how you can go about finding lots of potential software providers that create the right products for your business.

However, we know that with so many different businesses, offering products that might all seem similar – it’s difficult to narrow it down and shortlist the right businesses to partner with.

That’s why we think that shortlisting software providers is an important part of the process of finding the right match for you.

Why you should create a shortlist

Shortlisting ensures that only suppliers that meet your minimum standards get through to the evaluation stage.

Before you shortlist, you may find it useful to gather as much evidence from your potential suppliers as you can. This could be a website review, signing up to receive information, requesting product brochures or a software demonstration.

Meeting your shortlist criteria

In order to evaluate your shortlist you need to create a list of questions or criteria that your providers need to meet to make it to your detailed evaluation, You may find it easier to create an excel spreadsheet and think of a scoring system – or you can use the templates in our free guide.

In general, you should aim to shortlist at least five providers – taking three through to a more detailed evaluation stage.

Your shortlisting criteria should include general questions that help you build a picture of the provider in question. Think of it as a screening test. You may not be speaking directly with providers at this stage, so keep the criteria simple.

Examples of shortlisting criteria

  • Does the software have the features you need?
  • Is the company responsive to your enquiries?
  • Is the company professional in the way it operates?
  • Does the company have positive reviews?
  • Is the company experienced in your line of work?
  • Do you share similar values?
  • Do you feel its marketing is clear and transparent?

It may help to score shortlisted companies on each of the criteria, then take forward the top three companies to a more detailed evaluation stage.

Want to read more about managing software implementation in a home care business? Check out our comprehensive project implementation page.