Love is in the air this Valentine’s Day. So, it’s the perfect time to ask if you truly love your software.
Here’s how having the perfect loving relationship with your software is important for business success.
Full Functionality
All relationships need a bit of attention. But it’s easy to make time for someone when we love them.
The same is true of your software. If you love it, you will use it more fully. You will find out more about it and come to really make the most of it. Perhaps you will rediscover features that you only recall from the initial demo.
By thoroughly exploring the functionality of your ERP system, for example, you could begin exploring previously unused features. You might begin by emailing your customers a marketing message, or integrating with Outlook so that you can track contact, or creating a new report that shows profitability by customer.
By employing new tools, you ensure the best possible performance of your system and can gain efficiency in your business.
Goals and Planning
Long-term love matches succeed partly because both partners share the same aims and ambitions. Successful companies are no different. They know where they are heading. They understand and share the business goals.
Use your software to thoroughly plan a series of important objectives – like short-, medium- and long-term goals.
Having these objectives ensures you have a precise destination, and a clear understanding of the possible routes to get there. Sharing this vision with your employees informs the strategies they will develop and the action plans they create to achieve the objectives.
Widespread Acceptance
Software that you love will have been developed to meet a specification that everyone in your company has had input into – so it will be useful for everyone and work right across your business.
This is particularly true for ERP software, where everyone accesses the same database, so users always see the latest, live data. Staff can collaborate better and whether they are in Finance, Operations, Marketing, Sales or Customer Support, everyone is using the same platform and the same data.
Staff Empowerment
In the same vein, having software you love gives you the confidence to empower your staff to use it well. Giving them autonomy in their work drives motivation.
Instead of micro-managing your teams, you give them full ownership and control. This improves enthusiasm and involvement, which drives achievement and success in their roles.
Customer-Centricity
Software that you love and invest time into helps you to deliver for your customers. With a high degree of customer focus, you can provide those you supply with a unique level of service and added value.
For example, with ERP software, you get a 360-degree view of your customers. So, when you speak to them, you always know exactly who they are and what they have bought from you. You know their preferences and buying patterns and everyone in the company can instantly see who else has communicated with them and when.
Marketing
Loving your software means that your staff use it to incorporate full details about your customers. Your marketing team then has insight into which customers to target with upsells and cross-sells, which can deliver incremental revenue for your business.
Software that you embrace like this is important and central to your organisation, becoming a vital part of your overall strategy. It will integrate well with all your other software – enabling a smooth customer experience if you sell via ecommerce, for example.
Processes
Loving your software involves using it to streamline your processes. Establishing well designed business processes makes you more efficient, saving you time or money – or both.
With software that works for your business, you can tweak your processes with small improvements. Or you can re-evaluate them and design new ones that are more effective.
Insights
If you love your software, you will use it to set up a variety of reports and analytics. This will help you be more proactive than reactive. You will be able to see clear insights that help with demand planning, managing supply chain issues, forecasting sales and expenses, predicting staffing requirements, assessing profitability by client project, and more.
Your cherished software can be used to model future scenarios or situations according to certain variables. You will likely be more entrepreneurial in your outlook once you have explored all factors surrounding a potential business decision, applying your business acumen to options that will deliver greater success.
Passionate Leadership
Having strong feelings for anything makes you passionate. If you’re enthusiastic about your software, then that passion will shine in other areas. You will demonstrate strong leadership and will be able to successfully drive your teams to strive for business success.
What If You Don’t Love Your Software?
Finally, if you love your software, then it’s the right solution for your business. You don’t need to be a secret Valentine’s admirer. Profess your undying love for your software and reap the benefits for your company.
But what if you don’t love your software? Then you will perhaps find yourself in a situation opposite to all of the above, unable to act or plan well, without contingencies or the flexibility and robustness to succeed in business.
Maybe Valentine’s Day is leaving you feeling like Bridget Jones, jealous of all the ‘smug marrieds’, who are in love with their fantastic software. But you don’t need a box of chocs or a cheesy chat-up line. Instead, get in touch with us and we can find you the software of your dreams.
