Increasingly, organizations are replacing cumbersome manual processes with easy and efficient technological solutions that help them meet their objectives at substantially lower costs. But with so many products on the market, knowing where to turn can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Here are a few pointers to keep in mind.

The first step is determining the scope of solution you’re looking for. Some technologies deliver little more than an electronic appraisal form, while others help you manage your employees’ performance from start to finish. Partial solutions won’t be able to work miracles, so make sure you have effective procedures in place—ideally based on best practices—to meet any needs they don’t cover. Complete solutions will offer all the functions you want, and since they already incorporate best practices, that’s one less step for you to worry about.

Your system has to be effective, affordable and easy to use. It has to produce timely, high-quality appraisals based on measurable employee performance, and it has to promote corporate objectives. But the list doesn’t end there. The next step is to identify the specific features important to you. Top-end systems offer:

Once you know exactly what scope and features you want, you may have to choose between building a solution of your own and buying a ready-built system. Start by finding out about technical constraints, such as security requirements and whether your network is able to host web-based systems. Next, take a look at the resources available. Do your in-house teams have the skills to build a system that meets your needs? Are they available now and in the long term, and can you afford to divert them from their regular duties? Can they provide user training, troubleshooting and future upgrades? When you begin researching the solutions available on the market, ask if they can be tailored to your needs, get all the particulars on implementation timelines, service agreements and so on, and collect feedback from other customers. Finally, compare the purchase price against in-house development costs, including overhead and ongoing expenses tied to training, technical support and upgrades.

Identify the features important to you, research the solutions available and ask questions. Don’t lose sight of your corporate culture and any processes you already have in place. No single solution will be a perfect fit for everyone, so make sure you end up with the one that’s right for you.

With these tips in mind, you’re ready to find a technology that will transform the traditional time-consuming, once-a-year event into a simple and effective ongoing process. The end result? A healthy return on your organization’s single biggest investment—its employees.