When looking for a clinical trial management system (CTMS) for your organization, understanding the product features and capability is essential and significant first step in the evaluation process. However, along with the product capabilities, consideration of following intangible factors will help you identify the right software vendor for you:
- Is the solution overkill?
- Many CTMS software solutions come with a lot more “bells and whistles” then you’d ever need. You may be paying for many features that are never going to be applicable to your organization. A company buying a ‘one size fits all’ COTS CTMS software solution end up paying for all the product features, but hardly use 40% of the features in its deployment and during the entire life cycle of the product.
- Can the solution scale?
- CTMS software solution should be able to easily scale with the company’s growth and the rapid changes in business dynamics. The technology should support customizations and enhancements and it should not be difficult to enhance/customize the baselined CTMS solution.
- How well does the solution integrate with other 3rd party software vendors?
- Is the solution built using open standards and can it easily integrate with other applications
- What is the vendor’s user adoption strategy and process?
- User adoption is key to the success of CTMS project. Having a proven training plan is a huge step towards a great start. However, the vendor should be willing to provide continuous support in the initial stages to ensure seamless user adoption of CTMS across the organization.
Your relationship with your software vendor should be mutually beneficial. You should start the CTMS project with the expectation of building a positive relationship with your vendor. Your software vendor must understand that the ball is in their court to demonstrate their sensitivity towards your needs and must step up to lay the foundation for a long-term mutually beneficial relationship.
