How can we balance our needs and software features in a bid to achieve better performance as investment managers? This is a pertinent question that is complex to answer, but it’s a crucial one to ask ourselves if we want our software to help us out in the long run. So, without further ado, here’s how identifying software requirements early on can be done.
The first reason why you need to identify software requirements early is because you can quickly outgrow it. See, when designing software, many investment managers think of the here and now:
The problem with this is that once your team and scope start growing, you will quickly find that the software you have placed your trust in isn’t scalable, leaving you in the lurch and with a (potentially huge) extra expense to create something new.
So, our first piece of advice is to conduct an in-depth analysis of your current process so you can identify all the areas – big and small – in which the financial software of your dreams could help. But don’t stop there, as we explained in the first blog in this series – Choosing the Right Financial Software – it is also important to take a look at where you’d like to be in the future and consider any processes it could help you with then, too!
Goals are often thought of as the end of a process, but what if we told you that they can be the actual process?
Exploring your current and future realities means evaluating your goals and figuring out how to get there. But these goals also tell you a lot about how you can reach your final destination.
As we explored in our The ‘G’ in GROW Model article, the right software needs to be built around your ambitions, but ambitions come with costs, with hurdles, and with their own requirements.
Instead of looking at this as an issue, however, look at these as opportunities that will help you identify multiple options for achieving them. Look at which ones work best for you and try to figure out what sacrificing some of them may cost you.
Finally, identifying software requirements should enable you to make the final decision: what you’d like to go for. This may seem obvious, but many people often tiptoe around this final step and end up making the wrong decision between open-source vs enterprise bespoke financial software.
Making a decision here means balancing your needs and the software’s features in a way that will boost your performance. This decision should also consider a step-by-step plan on how your needs and the software’s features will continue to balance each other out over time.
Some of these things may sound daunting but remember that software is constantly evolving and your experience using it will bring new ideas to the fore. As we have experienced many times in our careers, what seems highly important at the beginning could soon be seen as less so as time goes by. This is actually a good thing when you’re working with software that is flexible and scalable so don’t worry about it.
Of course, working with financial software developers that have the right experience will make this whole process much easier. So, get in touch with us to find out how your software needs could be met in a much easier manner than you thought possible.