Software is often described as the solution for a business problem. But is it? In Drew Hendricks’ article, “Fragmented Software is Killing Business Productivity: 4 Ways to Fix it,” published on Inc.com, it doesn’t seem that way.
Instead Drew takes a hard look at how software that isn’t designed for good usability can cause as many problems than it solves. He identifies how finding a single solution today is the easy part. The tricky part is getting all those single solutions to work together. Whether they’re isolated spreadsheets or incompatible apps, if your tools aren’t sharing data, then your staff pays the price. Which is to say, you pay the price (through confusion, errors, and reduced productivity).
ERP software was intended to solve this foundational problem with data isolation, but these tools also have difficulties, Drew explains. With the “enterprise” in enterprise resource planning, there initially seemed to be a attitude that the end users didn’t matter. That usability didn’t matter. This mindset led to ERP tools that were overly complex, inefficient, and “clunky”. The more recent shift towards making business tools as usable as consumer tools has started to make things better. And we’re not talking about just making things look pretty. Personnel in a business have a wealth of digital literacy built up from their daily lives. Software that leverages the user’s ability to discover information, assess it, collaborate with others, and accomplish tasks will create a greater ROI.
The ideal result — as understood and pursued by companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon — is a an app that is frictionless, integrated data. This kind of app supports collaboration, prevents duplicated effort, reduces errors, and streamlines business processes.
Drew envisions a future workplace where technical skills are still important, but because the software will finally be caught up to what people can skillfully use, the key competencies will be problem-solving and community-building. How well can your staff apply knowledge towards making decisions, cultivating relationships, establishing your company reputation, and mobilizing other resources? How close does your business software come to reaching this goal?
At aACE we’ve invested over 15 years to creating an ERP tool that can accelerate your business. To learn more, browse our site and watch the video demonstrations.
“Unlike other solutions, you will never have to worry about not being able to collect, deliver, and/or report the data your organization needs. This product can be fully tailored to fit your company’s processes. If you want to gain control of your business and eliminate all of the islands of data that exist today, then I highly recommend that you give aACE a call.” ~ Bryan Anderson, All Solutions 360 LLC
