We understand the difficulty of choosing the best shift planning software. It needs to be the easiest to use, fastest to implement and loved by your team.
Papershift is built with these exact purposes in mind. At the end of this detailed post, we will share a checklist with you. Use this checklist with your team in evaluating and choosing the best shift planning software for your business.
What is a great shift planning software?
It is one which will be your ‘central source of TRUTH’.
Excel, paper and other methods are outdated and ineffective. You create and print shift plans, only for them to be inaccurate five minutes later. With great scheduling software, all information is live, correct, and accessible to everyone who needs it.
The checklist below will help you decide between the good, bad and the great software. With it, you can be assured to have made an extensive, thorough and rational decision in choosing your software partner. Before that, allow me to take you through each criterion in detail.
1. Easy & pleasant for everyone in the team
A great shift planning software should make you want to use it, again and again, to get your shift planning done right. It should be simple and easy to adapt, to you and your team. It is best to sign up for a ‘Free trial’ and play around the software. A free trial is a good tool to understand the strength of the product and reduces the risk of buying something unknown.
2. The product works the way you want it to
It really is in the details. One useful way to compare software is to ask: which problems will each solve, and which problems may be created?
Consider how the software will be used, both by admins and the whole team. To what extent does the software allow you to:
- Automatically create the rota and easily edit it
- Automate employee payroll reporting
- Inform employees about their shift plans
- Allow employees to collaborate and swap/trade shifts
- Set custom user rights
And your needs can go on. Ensure the software makes yours and your team’s work easier.
It is important to identify if the company has been constantly improving the product: Adding new features on a regular basis, listening to its customers, fixing issues (like bugs) and having a future roadmap as well. The best way to validate this is by looking at the product release announcements of the company, like this one from Papershift Helpdesk.
3. Consult with experts
It is better to tap into the knowledge of experts who are willing to consult and share the best practices in shift planning. At Papershift, we have Sales experts who have consulted more than 10,000 businesses and helped them solve their shift planning needs. We would encourage you to get yourself a personalized demo to find out how Papershift can help with your requirements, right down to the last detail.
My team and I are happy to answer your questions on shift planning and workforce management. Go ahead and book an appointment at a convenient time.
Tim LippmannPapershift
4. Sustainability – future proof the money you spend on software
Spend on the software which can grow as your business grows and your software needs grow. Look for a scalable software which fits when you are a small team as well as when you grow to be an enterprise. Your needs could grow to the following –
- Integrate a time clocking software to record working time of employees
- Manage absences and vacations of employees
- Automate payroll based on recorded time
- Make workforce management completely ‘Digital‘
- Integrate with 3rd party applications and get API to work with the software of your choice
5. Hidden costs and transparency
An honest and transparent partner ensures a good relationship in the long term. You can establish if there are any hidden costs during your product trial or product implementation and training after purchase. Ideally, you should not be experiencing surprising commitments and obligations after your purchase. Such transparency and proactiveness in open communication are important for a long term and healthy relationship with your software vendor.
6. What about after-sale support?
A very critical factor. But how do you verify this? Every company has its share of problems with its customers. You identify great companies when their support team get back to the customer first and work towards winning them back. It is important to look at online reviews from verified and credible websites like ProvenExpert and Capterra. Papershift has over 100 reviews rated over 4.5 out of 5. It is recommended to read the customer experiences to understand what your after-sale experience could be.
7. Customers are the biggest proof
Customers using the software is one key evaluating factor one must look at. Papershift is one of the most established staff management softwares with customers across Europe, and a growing global base. It is adopted by smaller companies to enterprises such as mymuesli, Burger King, Young Capital, Ryanair and more to automate their workforce management. Have a look at some of our success stories here.
Hopefully this helps you pin down purchasing the right shift planning and time tracking software for your team. Enjoy your time in evaluating the software and take a rational decision. Click below to download your copy of the evaluation checklist.
- Online Rota Planning
- Staff Timesheet Management
- Absence & Vacation Approval
- Payroll Management
- Friendly Support Team
