Imagine this all-too-common scenario: your VP of Sales decides it is time to streamline the sales department, create a central repository for all data regarding sales leads, and make it much easier for everyone to share information and work together. To do this he works with the IT department to purchase and implement sales force automation software. He even sends all of his sales managers and account executives to training.
But unfortunately the software fails miserably. People either don’t use it, or if they do, they only use it in a very limited way. How could this happen?
Every sales person had different habits and processes that didn’t match up with the software. There was no culture of information sharing. And no one saw the value in taking the extra time to add pertinent information into the system. Management didn’t take these “soft” hurdles seriously enough.
Instead of spending more time with users, understanding why they did things and demonstrating why things needed to change and how such changes would benefit the company, managers blindly hoped that the new software would fix their problems for them.
This happens all too often. Business software can improve efficiency and help expand the scope of various business processes. Unfortunately, what it can’t do is fix a process or practice that is fundamentally broken. Before you consider spending big bucks on a CRM, ERP or other software packages designed to boost productivity and automate business processes, ensure you understand the root causes of slowdowns or inefficiencies.
Understanding the fundamentals of your business processes – and even your culture - can allow you to address their flaws and inadequacies before you commit to buying expensive software to improve them. This will pave the way for the new software to save you time and money by automating and streamlining processes which are already optimized. In fact, as a general rule, software companies research and adopt industry best practices and build them into their product. The closer your company is following these practices, the less work you have to do in aligning your processes with those the software requires and the less time and money you have to spend making expensive modifications to the software.
To ensure business practices are optimized before purchasing new software, follow a straightforward method for fixing troublesome processes:
- Document all the steps involved in the process(es) that will be affected by the new software. Be extremely thorough.
- Identify the steps in the process which are causing slowdowns or waste.
- Determine what form such slowdowns or waste take (i.e. things like delays, redundancies, and asset misallocations).
- Work to remove the slowdowns through elimination of redundancies, asset reallocation, personnel training etc.
By fixing your business processes before you shell out hard earned cash for software you significantly increase the likelihood of a successful implementation. You also ensure that problems that can’t simply be fixed with new software are not overlooked.
