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Avoid Ending Up with the Wrong Medical Spa Software

One of the biggest and most costly mistakes a medical spa business can make is purchasing the wrong software. Software is vital to any company's success. Software allows for payroll, financial functions, inventory, websites, ordering, client engagement, client interaction, sales, and virtually every other aspect of a business. With such an important role in a business's structure, why then do so many companies get it wrong?

The 1E Report, "The Real Cost of Unused Software" shedded some much needed light on the large scale and expensive issue of unused software. Over a period of four years, the study analyzed 3.6 million users within 129 leading corporations, across 14 industries who used 1,800 different software titles. They found that 37% of a company's software budget was being wasted by software that was purchased and then not used. In the United States, this cost amounted to $30 billion in lost IT dollars. Even more alarming is over the 4 year study, the trends and amount of wasteful software dollars barely changed.

1. Wants Vs Needs

The first thing to consider when purchasing new medspa software is separating your wants from your needs. This breakdown will ensure you are choosing the right software based on actual company needs. Think of your medspa software purchase the same way you would when purchasing a new car. While the super fancy, bright red, convertible sports car may draw your attention, does it give you good gas mileage, trunk space, and 4-wheel drive for the winter? If the answer is no, then the sports car may be what you want but not what you actually need.

Software companies will ask you to set up a demo of their software. While this is an important step, you must be fully prepared prior to setting up the demo. We will discuss medspa software demonstrations later on. Software sales representatives will pull out all their bells and whistles to try and get you to purchase their software. Before taking meetings to demo new software, make two lists; needs list and wants list. This will allow you to be fully prepared with your must haves and will allow you not to be swayed by fancy software features that may not actually benefit your medical spa business.

2. Who Will Be Using the Software

The second thing to consider when purchasing new medspa software is who in your company will actually be using the software. Everyone learns differently because everyone has different brain waves. While leadership should be involved in all financial decisions, if they are not going to be the day-to-day users of the new medical spa software, they should not be the sole decision makers.

Determine who in your company will be using the software the most. Schedule an introductory meeting with those employees to discuss the overall thought process for bringing on new software and share your wants/needs lists. Ask for their input and see what their opinions are. Inviting these employees to the software demo meeting is also a good idea. This will allow your employees to give valuable input and give them the opportunity to be involved in the upcoming changes.

3. Usability

The third thing to consider when purchasing new medspa software is usability. The absolute best technology on the market is completely irrelevant and useless unless it is easy to use and easy to navigate. Think about it, how many times have you logged onto an app on your phone or tried navigating through a checkout process on a website and finally just left without the purchase due to frustrations? This tends to happen when technology interfaces are not user friendly.

Imagine spending thousands of dollars and countless hours setting up a new software just for your employees and coworkers to tell you it's not user friendly. Imagine them telling you, instead of the new software helping them be more productive it causes them frustration and inability to complete their tasks.

This type of situation can be easily avoidable simply by requesting a software demonstration. Software companies love giving potential clients demonstrations as it gives them a chance to showcase the very best benefits and features of their products. Invite employees who will be using the software to attend this demonstration and come prepared with your needs list. Make sure to ask as many questions as you can during the demo. With usability being so important, you may also ask for a second demo meeting where you and some key members of your team can use a "demonstration or trial" account to have some hands-on experience prior to purchase.

Prep Before Purchase

Choosing the right medical spa software is a critical component of having a long-term successful company. In order to effectively allocate your IT budget and not waste 37% of it on an unused but already purchased product, make sure you do your due diligence. First, separate your company's wants from its needs. Second, determine who will actually use the new software and allow them to have input. Third, make sure the medspa software you choose is easy to use. Taking the time to fully research new software and give your team input may seem like a lot of upfront work but, your efforts will pay off in the end. For a live demo of AestheticsPro medspa software, call us at (877) 260-2907 or visit us online.