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Today we officially launch the Software Shortlist Directory – a free online resource to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) quickly find relevant software.
Don’t worry, we see the irony. Here is a company that specialises in shortlisting software that is now giving you a long list of software.
But there’s good reason for this. The feedback on our online recommendation and comparison service has been fantastic, but we have also heard from many customers that they wanted to see the full list of software that sat behind it. There seems to be a certain level of comfort people get from seeing the long list of options. Of course, we suspect that when confronted with a long list of available software, you will appreciate even more the value of our shortlisting service 
So, without any further ado, welcome to the Software Shortlist Directory.
The directory includes over 700 products in popular categories such as Accounting, Email Marketing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Project Management, and Small Business ERP. And more categories are being added all the time.
What is particularly distinctive about our directory is that it focuses only on small business software. With no consumer or big enterprise solutions to wade through, you save time and money not having to consider options that aren’t relevant to you.
You will also find the quality of the listings is better than most. We have applied strict selection criteria as part of a global search process to create a powerful resource for small businesses. Our aim is to build an extensive yet high quality list of software — and if faced with a choice, we have gone for quality over quantity.
What are you waiting for? Go check it out at www.softwareshortlist.com/software/directory.html
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As expected, we’ve learned a lot since we first launched the beta service of Software Shortlist back in February this year. And right now we are flat out turning those lessons into new and improved services for small business customers and for software vendors alike.
Software Directory
One such lesson was that, although people may struggle to make good decisions when faced with overwhelming choice, they want the comfort of actually seeing the long list of available options.
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While our online recommendation and comparison facility is proving just as valuable as expected … we realized many customers would value seeing the comprehensive list. As such, Software Shortlist is now developing an extensive software directory for small & medium businesses as an additional offering. |
Software Selection Consulting
We have also been pleasantly surprised by the demand from small business customers for help with software selection. Not only have we seen very good traffic numbers and site usage during our beta phase, we are already getting a number requests for software selection consulting assistance from customers. In responding to our customers’ needs, Software Shortlist has now added a range of software selection consulting services to our offer. In fact, we have just concluded our first major project, evaluating online database software for a specialist marketing agency.
Independent Software Comparisons
Of course, not all of the lessons learned required changing things. We have had great feedback from customers and vendors, validating our existing approach … such as the emphasis we have placed on the independence of our online software comparison service. This focus on providing independent reviews and suggestions will continue as we evolve the Software Shortlist offering and expand our coverage across more software categories. Accounting is very nearly ready for release, and email marketing not far behind, so watch this space….
Services for Software Vendors
On the vendor side of the equation, we have been fortunate to have received detailed feedback from a close network of supportive vendors. Plus we’ve seen an unexpectedly large number of unsolicited enquiries from other software companies. Together, their input has been invaluable in helping us design and prioritize a range of improvements to our website.
Among other things, we learned that many independent software vendors (ISVs) would value us offering other marketing services … such as conducting customer feedback surveys, gathering testimonials from their users, and developing a vendor benchmark study. More information on these is available on our vendor information page.
Watch this space…
So, a big thank you to all the SMBs, vendors and service providers who took the time to explore our services and provide us with input and advice. Your feedback has provoked some intense thinking and discussion behind the scenes here, and we’re excited about bringing you an expanded and improved range of services under the Software Shortlist banner. These new offerings will be rolled out gradually over coming months, starting with the official launch of our directory very soon. We will also update our home page and ‘how it works’ sections to reflect the changes.
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Firstly, thanks to all who have got in touch with us about our alliance partner program. The response to has been very strong, and we are discussing potential arrangements in a range of vertical markets and specialist areas with people from around the world — including US, Israel, Romania, Singapore, and Australia. We see alliances as an important part of our overall strategy — so if you see a good fit between your business and ours, please get in touch.
In other news, it’s been a busy month since our last blog post. While we had hoped to be live before now, the decision has been made to set up additional content and products before turning on the platform, which means we will launch early in 2009.
Key outcomes in the past month include:
- Our web platform is ready to go, with testing finalised and hosting in the US.
- The setting up of software vendors on the system is well underway, with a healthy number on board for Time Tracking; and Farm Management software.
- Step-by-step guidelines for vendors have been written as part of this process, including Vendor Sign-up Activities and Setting up Google Analytics.
- A base of articles have been commissioned on specific software topics. This will be expanded over time – and you can submit your own for inclusion too.
- Initial work has also started on reviewing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Accounting software for small to medium businesses. An interim report has been sent out to participants in our CRM software survey, and this research is continuing so if you haven’t taken part yet, please do so.
We have also been reviewing and updating our business plan. It’s been a year since we first wrote it, and while the fundamentals still hold true, there have been a number of important changes and lessons learned since then. Among other things, an advisory board is being put in place to provide us with expert input on key areas, provide a fresh perspective, and to challenge our thinking on the business.
There is also some other exciting news in the pipeline. We can’t reveal details just yet but stay tuned…
So, from all of us at SoftwareShortlist, have a wonderful Christmas and festive season. We’ll see you in the new year!
