Selecting software

Unless your problem is very unique, chances are that it has been solved already. Let us help you find a pre-existing solution. We can also help integrate a solution into your environment and customize it to meet your needs.

Don't misunderstand us: we agree that it is fun to invent. Creativity and innovation are certainly traits of successful companies, projects, and individuals; but why apply your precious resources -- people, time, and capital -- to reinvent the wheel? Is it because you really need a better wheel? If so, then go ahead and make one, but why start from scratch? Your time and money are too valuable to waste. Let us help you make a wise decision.

Let us talk with your customers or your staff and find out what they both want and need. We can develop requirements documents and feature lists which are yours to keep. If you would like, we can use those documents and lists to search for existing software products and solutions, and evaluate how well they meet your needs. Upon completion, we will deliver a summary report that includes a recommendation and several alternatives for your consideration. If you need help implementing a solution, we can offer you turnkey solutions using third-party software. We also offer programming services should any customization be required.

Key benefits of packaged software include:

• Cost-effective (solutions typically cost orders of magnitudes less to buy than to build and support).
• Faster time to market and/or project completion: better ROI.
• Supported by professional software development companies.
• Frees your people, time, and money to add value-enhancing features instead of developing basic functionality.
• Know before you start a project if you have no cost-effective alternatives.

Our consultants have expertise in science, business, and information technology. The list of industries, business functions, companies, computer languages, hardware, software, and operating systems with which we have experience is too broad to list here. Suffice it to say that we have found that, like people, businesses and specific problems vary widely, but each has similarities that invite common approaches.

We speak your language: business.

We can phrase your requirements by using many of your own words. The users of the solution will debate those requirements and reach consensus on what is important. We will facilitate this, not by telling people what they need, or how to run your business, but by asking the right questions and listening to the answers that your own staff and customers provide.

We speak "geek."

(Please, take no offense if you do too.) We speak numerical analysis, math, computer science, and physics. We recognize that there is a language and culture in the scientific, information, and computing industries that are foreign to those who are outside them. Often it seems as if those in IT are purposely trying to confuse those who are not. We know what to ask our fellows in the software industry to determine how well they can help with your specific problem. We can determine true capabilities of third-party solutions and objectively test their products.

We listen.

It is an important part of our job, one that is often missed by consultants who feel that they are paid to talk. If we do not understand, we ask. We answer every question you have. If you happen to stump us with a question, you get an honest "We don't know" as our answer. If that happens, we research the question and follow-up with a better answer, or we find someone who does know the answer.

We have no interest in selling you a package of goods.

We sell very few products, none of which are sold to end users. We do not accept any commissions or any other consideration when evaluating or recommending products. If Mantos Consulting, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries has a relationship of any kind with any of the companies recommended or suggested as alternatives, that relationship will be fully disclosed. When we work for you, your interests come before ours.