CE Pro November/December 2024 - 66

BUSINESS RESOURCES
How Dealers Select Business Software
Justn like we celebrate annually in our Quest for Quality
Awards, Support/Customer Service is more important
than ever when it comes to choosing the most compatible
software for dealers' needs. When asked about the most
important business resource attributes, that answer shot up
from fifth to the top of this year's list.
That said, dealers aren't too picky about selecting particular
supplier's software as long as it's reliable - Supplier
Reputation was the only criteria of this year's top 7 to maintain
the same ranking year to year and it's at the bottom of
the list.
Meanwhile, Compatibility with Other Software and Price
were tied for the next most desired features. Price ticked
up one spot from No. 4 a year ago, indicating that inflation
remains a very influential part of vetting and implementing
platforms.
Although features wanted in software solutions/suppliers
saw some swings from our 2023 report, the list of popular
functionalities and use cases remain relatively unchanged
from last year's Business Resources Deep Dive.
In line with the amount of pieces dealers say they use,
preferred scenarios of software implementation included
a 6% uptick to 16% for Purpose-Built Programs responses.
Single, End-to-end solutions are notably preferred by nearly
half of respondents (47%), however.
After a big leap from our 2021 to 2023 surveys, Cloudbased
software stayed steady with a little over three-quarters
of survey-takers shifting their business processes to
those platforms.
Software Applications & Reasons
for Dropping Solutions
Accounting/billing is still the overwhelming software
application. Proposal tools software surged 23% from last
year, and End-to-end/turnkey operations stayed put with
around one-third of respondents as far as the most common
functions.
As far as ditching software that they've used and decided
it does not work for their business, integrators' software
implementation has stabilized over the past several years.
Those saying they've abandoned zero to 3 solutions
lands right between the percentages from 2021 and 2023.
That number stands at 68% for this year's survey, likely
in correlation to dealers' satisfaction with their already
installed software.
On the opposite side, key reasons cited for abandoning
software included incompatibility, bugs, and difficulty, which
all rose to the top of the list.
While the majority of dealers have not explored developing
their own software solution, a sizeable chunk has
66 | CE Pro November/December 2024
31%+
boost
21% to 30%
boost
10%
11%
No effect
5%
16% to
20%
boost
5 21 21 16 16 11 10
21%
21%
16%
11% to 15%
boost
These figures remain largely unchanged from 2023;
however, those who say software provides a 11% to 20%
uptick in profits increased by 5%.
16%
6% to 10%
boost
1% to 5%
boost
Has Your Company Ever Tried to Develop Your
Own Software?
Ye 16%s
No
84%
While the majority of dealers have not explored this
territory, a sizeable chunk has tried their hand.
Software Effect on Profits
tried their hand and had success. About 15% of integrators
have used their technical know-how to figure out what
criteria fits best for their companies and constructed software
to match.
Companies such as Creative Sound & Integration and
Sight & Sound Systems are two that have evolved to add
software products among their contributions to the industry.
They were the practical minds behind ProjX360 and
MaxaWare, respectively.
And other software providers continue to upgrade their
platforms on a regular basis, giving integrators more of what
they are asking for in a solution, whether it's purpose-built
or end-to-end. A great example is Portal.io, which has figured
out how to use AI in their new Proposal Builder tool to
speed up that process dramatically.
With all of the innovation in this industry, we can't wait to
see what else is in development as we speak. CE Pro
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16 84
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CE Pro November/December 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CE Pro November/December 2024
