Don’t assume just because you weighed the print software strategic decision heavily, spent a lot of money, and are now spending a lot of time and effort on implementation that your team isn’t still out shopping for other solutions on the side. I hope every print business owner isn’t saying, “They’d better not be.” I’m here to tell you they are and it's a waste of time, effort, and money. 

Making strategic decisions about print software is hard. There is no perfect path, there is no perfect vendor, there is no perfect fit for your company. When your shopping for print software, all the vendors are trying to appear perfect. Printers ask questions and then simply take “yes” answers that don’t tell half the story behind the functionality. It all feels good when you’re shopping because people are telling you what you want to hear. Contrast that with when you’re implementing software: you and your team learn the truth. There are limitations to every software product that require you to make trade-offs, compromises, and workarounds. This is why most printers love the shopping phase and hate the implementation phase. 

In the last year, I’ve seen an alarming number of people contact me and say, “We’re implementing software x, but I’m looking at software y.” What I want to ask them is, does your ownership team know you’re spending time and effort shopping for something better when they have already made a financial commitment to a solution?