Choosing the perfect software for a field service business can be a daunting task, especially with all the different choices available. Sifting through the noise to find one that perfectly suits your business needs can seem impossible. Should you go industry specific or generic? Balancing current business needs with long-term growth is both paramount and challenging.
Industry Specific vs. Generic: What is the Difference?
There is a huge gap between industry specific and generic software in terms of performance, functionality, and usability. While a generic software, or “one size fits all” solution, is a bit cheaper, an industry-specific solution is an investment and offers all the features and functions to meet your unique business requirements.
Non-industry specific
- Will likely not meet all your business needs – a square peg for a round hole.
- May include features and functions that are not wanted/needed.
- You may have to change business processes to match the software functionality.
- Will be randomly out-of-sync with your business lingo.
- High customization costs, or impossible to customize.
- Feature requests will likely not be taken into account and future enhancements may not be relevant to your industry or business.
- Quickly outdated. Slow to evolve with your industry, so your business may need to keep processes matching the software, change software in the future, or introduce additional systems to bridge the gap between software and future processes.
Industry Specific
- Can start with the core-essentials and add features and functions later.
- Mold the system to fit your business and not the other way around. A solution tailored to match business needs, processes, and security requirements.
- Shorter learning curve for your staff. Easier to train staff on new software when working with a vendor that understands the employee’s needs and is talking in a language they can relate to.
- Software language and infrastructure/platform will match your business needs vs. those of a ‘mass market’.
- Competitive advantage when working with a software vendor that truly understands your industry and business needs.
- Provides for scalable and constantly evolving solution that can stay current with your business.
- Future-proof. Never outdated and continuous investment in updates and enhancements.
What’s the right choice?
To gain a competitive advantage or at least keep up with their biggest competitors, strategic business owners and industry leaders choose an industry specific solution. A one-size fits all solution would miss out on key industry features and provide a solution that would be less cost-effective in the long-term.
Software companies that develop industry-specific software have made substantial financial investments, plus years of software development efforts to understand the industry’s vertical-market requirements and incorporate unique productivity tools that help businesses of all sizes streamline their processes. Because the product is so tailored to a specific industry, there is a greater understanding of industry needs and procedures which provides massive business advantages over generic software products that cater to a mass audience.
So, what is the answer? The best place to begin with selecting a field service software is with a discovery call. Contact the FIELDBOSS team or schedule a free personalized demo to learn more about how FIELDBOSS can help your field service business succeed in today’s competitive industry.