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The Single Most Important System Selection Decision:
We have often consulted with businesses that are making purchasing decisions on various different business systems for their companies. We always tell them the same thing:
Besides price, there are three important considerations in selecting any kind of system for a business:
The hardware
The software or firmware
The dealer
Without a doubt, the most important of the three in assuring success and satisfaction with the system is the dealer!
A "less than great dealer" can take the very best equipment components and the most proven software and sadly, turn them into a mediocre system...or worse - a complete failure! This can be true even when a huge effort and good intentions are provided. They often point fingers at operator errors, power disturbances, or vendors of some other portion of the system without actually providing proof or evidence. Usually, the customer is never able to ascertain exactly what went wrong or who is responsible. Often, neither can the dealer! They seldom seem to wonder how the same hardware and software works perfectly for so many others. Nonetheless, they are quite certain of only one thing --it's not their fault.
A "great system dealer" can combine ordinary equipment or software in such a way as to make it do wonderful things it was never designed to do. When they have "great equipment or software" they can produce miracles. They can piece together a variety of software and hardware components until they have configured a system that addresses all of the customer's unique needs. If there is any problem or adjustment required, a "great dealer" makes the necessary support on the system tolerable.
In a system, no component stands alone. The failure of a single cable or phone line can render an entire system inoperable, no matter how good all the other pieces are, or how prestigious the manufacturers are, and regardless of how much the system cost. If you have more than one vendor — who takes responsibility? The guy that sold you a $150 modem is not going to lose any sleep because the system you bought from somebody else isn’t working as a result of that modem being configured improperly by the installer.
A single vendor is the ideal solution, but that vendor has to be a "great system dealer." There is only one major drawback — it is extremely rare to find a single vendor that can do it all well. Inland Cash Register has a proven history of doing it all, and doing it all well!