FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
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Selecting Your Firm's New Financial System
For those in legal and other professional services, accurate and
timely accounting and billing practices are vital for lasting success.
In an increasingly technological world, this means selecting a proper
financial system to fit your firm's unique needs holds more weight than
ever before. If proper product expertise is not paired with practical
selection procedures, firms run the risks of selecting inadequate
soware, making a decision based off of current requirements with
lile consideration of the future, paying too much for too lile and,
ultimately, being dissatisfied with their selection.
The ultimate goal of implementing a new financial system is
to provide your firm with improved capabilities over your current
system in terms of the overall technology, reduction of the bill-to-
collect cycle time, lower maintenance expenditures and improved
process efficiency. A poor choice now can result in a decade or more of
frustration and lost revenue. Here are recommendations to help your
firm avoid the pitfalls of poor system selection procedures.
Develop a Plan
The first thing any firm looking to implement a new financial system
should do is develop a comprehensive plan of action. There are various
options available that should be considered. A common misconception
many firms have is that they will inevitably stick with their current
vendor regardless of what else is available, as if updating to the newest
model will solve their problems. Before starting their selection work,
firms should drop any preconceived notions about systems and
vendors until further analysis is completed. Customer loyalty is a great
thing if you are the one providing the service. If not, it makes sense to
consider alternatives.
by Jim Dusenbery of Source Consulting Group
Selecting Your Firm's New
Financial System
