At Enrollment Rx, it is an all-too-common occurrence in initial sales engagements that colleges and universities select alternative higher education admissions software solutions to Enrollment Rx. The reasons we are not selected can differ, but is often due to our “price” (we are perceived to be the most expensive), or the complexity and breadth of our solution (“You guys have a space shuttle, but we only need a bicycle”).
Price
Comparing higher education admissions software proposals solely based on pricing is human nature. The issue with this approach is that enterprise class software seldom lends itself to a simple apples-to-apples comparison for clients to consider. After sitting through exhausting product demos that end up blending together, prospective clients often default to a perception that all higher education admissions software offerings are equally capable. This leads them to select the one that proposes the cheapest annual fee, often disregarding crucial factors that will influence their long-term success.
Assuming that all of the systems generally provide the same service is a common misconception. An analogy might be comparable to buying a car. In the buyer’s mind, the vehicle needs to only provide a mode of transportation, which all cars seem to do, so the buyer might as well choose the cheapest option. However, in the case of enterprise software, it would be a mistake to judge the options as one would rent a car. While there is little doubt that each vendor showed impressive demonstrations of their “cars”, the bigger picture questions are often glossed over. What level of skill will be required to implement your higher education admissions software ? What are the known and unknown costs to maintain it? Will it really come with the tires, engine, and windows that you saw in the demo, or will that need to be built by a 3rd party implementation partner? If much of it needs to be custom built, how practiced is your team in analyzing, determining, and communicating complex requirements to software developers? What if their requirements change midway through the project? What would the impact be on the cost and timeline? In other words, how much heavy lifting will need to be completed in order to replicate the “car” in the demo, and how much will that really cost?
What we see in the market
In the case of Enrollment Rx, our ecosystem generally offers clients the choice of “building vs. buying” higher education admissions software solutions on the Salesforce platform. Enrollment Rx is a mature product company that delivers a “buy” strategy by implementing our proprietary suite of products in order to transform Salesforce into a system for recruitment and admissions.
Alternatively, many colleges and universities may choose to custom “build” functionality for recruitment and admissions on top of Salesforce. While this approach may appear cheaper in the near term, it can come with unanticipated cost-overruns when the CRM needs to be enhanced, upgraded, or modified due to new requirements. After all, enterprise software is a never ending project, especially on the Salesforce platform which constantly pushes out innovations and enhancements that need to be accommodated uniquely in each environment. The “buy” approach, when done correctly, embraces a future-proof strategy because it allows for product upgrades that can be seamlessly deployed without additional costs.The “build” approach might appear to offer greater control and ownership over the functionality, but the work-product is outdated from the moment it is deployed.
From a practical perspective, higher education admissions software functional and technical requirements are always changing, and the responsibilities of enhancing, upgrading, and supporting the system will always fall to the builder. It is important to remember that enterprise software is never finished and any technology strategy must account for ongoing innovation in an attainable, affordable and manageable manner.
Would you like to hear more about Enrollment Rx’s R.A.D. higher education admissions software? Contact us today!
