Evaluating a collaboration system and figuring out what a business needs is not an easy thing to do. It is recommended that a business test two services out at the same time to find out the bugs in each system and learn what the business really needs in a collaboration system. This practice will reveal everything a business owner needs to know when trying to choose the right provider. Here are more reasons that a business should test two services at once and more about how evaluating two services exposes weaknesses and strengths in a business.
1. Why a business owner should evaluate two services at once
A smart business owner uses two services to find out what they can about an industry and what business solution they should use. In fact, selecting one provider right out of the gate is probably the wrong approach to selecting a provider. The right approach is testing as many solutions as allowed (it depends on if the business offers a free trial) and finding out what is missing from all of them and what is absolutely essential for a business to have to be able to do its work. In the end, this will give a business a better idea of what they need and what is absolutely essential for business success.
2. The evaluation should always be two trials. A business owner should never spend money on two services at the same time. (If this is true, then find a better service)
A business owner should never have to buy two collaboration tools, if this is true, then the business needs to find a better solution than the two they have. A good collaboration tool should allow the business owner to file share, communicate with employees and other businesses they work with, and keep contacts from seeing each other if it is not beneficial for the meeting (a business should keep their vendors private from their customers).
On the same token, a business should not have to make totally separate accounts to have different businesses represented on the tool. The tool should allow one profile but have other sub profiles that do not have to be related to the master profile. This is similar to how domains are hosted by the same hosting account, but they are all different websites. A well-made collaboration tool would have this feature automatically included instead of having to remake a new profile every time a business owner opened a new business.
3. Get a better price on one if you have a sales person selling it
Lastly, it is good for a business to have as many negotiation pieces as they can when they get a collaboration tool. It is similar to buying a car; a business person should not seem too interested in a system even though they are interested in that system. This allows the business owner to get the best price on the tool without too much fuss. This savings should be reinvested into the business for growth. However, testing two collaboration tools is extremely useful when it comes down to paying for one of the systems over the other.
In closing, using two collaboration tools is only smart when a business owner is in the testing phase. If a business owner is using two services that they paid for, then that business owner needs to cancel both of those services and find a better service to use. The best collaboration tools allow a business to do work without having problems with file sharing, contacts seeing each other that should not see each other, or communication problems. Lastly, a business that tests two services can use those services to get the best price on one of them. A business owner needs to be shrewd enough to negotiate on the price of the systems.
Scott Buendia consults for Bizbuilt.com. All the views and tactics in this article are tactics and ideas of the author; they do not necessarily represent the ideals, beliefs, or trademarks of Bizbuilt.com. Visit his card on Bizbuilt here, https://www.bizbuilt.com/socialmediaprivacy.