What are the alternatives?
Limitations of Excel
Spreadsheets are great but still have their limitations. Even utilising OneDrive or Google Docs does not give them the power of a bespoke database/custom software system.
Usually spreadsheets are created by individual users for one task. ie the boss wants to know how many widgets were sold last week by colour. They wade through all their info and need to collate it somewhere and a spreadsheet is the obvious answer. Trouble is if the boss asks someone else the same question 2 days later they have to create their own spreadsheet. Far better to write one script that automatically finds the widgets sold last week sorted by colour. Then all the boss has to do is press it himself. Job done once which then can be used many times.
Often spreadsheets are made available via DropBox, OneDrive or Google Docs etc but then the question arises which one is current. It’s so easy to end up with many copies amended by many people. Far better to have one central file that can be viewed by all, in real time, and edited only by those with permissions. Also, usually this info is just part of a much bigger work flow. Far better to keep all the info in one system that updates all occurrences of that info in real time. That way there will be no duplication or errors.
Frustration with off-the-shelf software
Again these can be great. ‘Oven ready’, good to use straight away. But they are all basically one design to fit all. They might do all you think you would ever need till you’re well committed and then discover that it never quite does exactly what you thought it would and then users end up inventing their own work-arounds.
It also involves far more work…
- deciding what features you do need, might need, won’t need.
- researching the market,
- earning terminology and implications.
- learning the software.
- Fitting it in with your way of working. But more likely, adapting your way of working to the software.
- Developing work-arounds.
- Training staff…
The extra chores are endless. And you end up with the conclusion that had-you-knew-knew what-you-know-now, you wouldn’t-have-gone-this-route.
It’s never cheap, right? Far better to invest all of that time, effort and money in your own system that is designed with your ways of doing things in mind and can be adapted as and when you want it to. Staff then easily use your new solution from day 1 because it mimics their processes
With off-the-shelf software that’s not quite right, you’d probably have to invest in even more software packages and then try to integrate everything.
Off-the-shelf software, because of its complexities, takes staff much longer to learn. Why? You have to learn things a number of times!
- Learn the way your internal processes work
- Learn the choices out there
- Learn a few enough to see if one is suitable before…
- Learning the way that software wants you to work
- Learn to adapt how your organisation works [1] to to the way they want you to work.
Much better to develop your own tailor-made solution (with my help of course) for exactly the same reasons as the blue chip companies. Why buy a general, all-singing solution? 90% of the features on offer won’t be utilised, 30% of them complicate what you want to do and 50% of the features you really wanted just aren’t available to start with.
You’re better off with software that’s written just for you.
Office 365, Google Docs, DropBox, SharePoint, OneDrive,
All great stuff but, like spreadsheets, they either come as blank templates Word, Excel etc which when it comes to data handling they do not give you the power of a custom system. Or in the case of DropBox, SharePoint, OneDrive, are just file storage systems. Great for storing docs but not when those docs are needed by many people, all day, every day.
Bespoke software that’s designed exclusively around the way you work demands far less of your company’s time, resources and staff. It will involve less stress, and fewer hassles & costly problems. You only need a bespoke software system created once. It can then grow with you as your situation changes.
A bespoke software system will:
- Automate how you want to work
- Speed up your processes
- Give you full control
- Give you access to all your information
- Make you more efficient and profitable
A bespoke system will work out more cost effective, as it:
- Allows you to continue to work the way that you have always done (minimal disruption)
- Comes with full person-to-person staff training to get you up and running
- Is maintained by the person who wrote it. And he’ll already know your needs and the way you work and think.
- So it will be easier and cheaper to update and extend
So why use us, a local small firm, rather than a global enterprise with the experience and proven reliability of the world’s leading software?
Well, there’s only one phone number with no switchboard. You talk directly with the person who actually built your bespoke system. We’re always happy to help. And we’ll be on hand to train new staff, add new features and troubleshoot as and when your need arises.
