What’s going on below the surface? (In your business)

Do you ever feel like your business operates under 2 completely different guises?

There’s the customer/client-facing one that is just like the swan on top of the water, calmly functioning just as it should and making everything look effortless.

And then there’s the other side of the business – all of your teams, departments, and processes at work - furiously paddling hard underwater to make sure everything is working properly to keep things moving forward.

So many businesses operate this way, it can be exhausting, and yet it works. After all, you don’t get results without a shedload of hard work do you?

But what if there was another way, that meant that even under the surface you didn’t have to work quite so hard, quite so furiously and while draining quite so much time, energy and resources?

 

Keeping your customers happy

We all want happy customers and in large, that is why we have business processes in place. From your booking systems to your complaints procedures to the way your product orders are placed, every process is put in place to improve the user experience and keep your customers enjoying your product or service.

That doesn’t mean those processes need to operate at the expense of the business. In fact, they should function to help take a lot of unnecessary work out of the equation.

We’ve helped many of our clients re-think and re-define their business processes, including the way each of their systems link together, to create a much more streamlined and efficient way of working. All too often outdated legacy systems are left in place, proving more of a hindrance to business growth than a help. Perhaps you can relate to some of the scenarios below that our clients have encountered?

Timesheets and Payroll – too much room for error
A refrigeration company client of ours approached us as they were experiencing issues with how their engineer timesheets were inputted into payroll. They were regularly dealing with human error and were spending too much on resources. We developed a system to automate the timesheets so they could be seamlessly integrated into the company payroll system, reducing the margin for error and loss of data, and preventing the occurrence of double keying.

Customer Billing not up to scratch
An energy company client of ours was facing rising admin costs due to an outdated spreadsheet system that had been left in place to manage customer billing. To overcome this, we developed a new bespoke billing system for the company to streamline their operations and enable a higher level of functionality. The outcome was significant administration savings along with the ability to facilitate the onboarding of a greater number of customers; something that just wasn’t possible on the old legacy system.

Laborious Inventory Management and Purchasing
We are currently working with an interior design company who have been struggling with the way their inventory management and purchasing is handled. They have been using a legacy spreadsheet system for years which is both time-consuming and inefficient and it hasn’t enabled them to scale up along with the company. To turn things around we have decided to introduce a new system that will enable the integration of all project information and inventory detail, as well as purchase orders. Once complete, the company should be able to enjoy vastly increased operational efficiencies across the board, as well as improved customer service.

Of course, this is just a snapshot of how software development can help to streamline business processes for the better, to improve efficiencies and usability for both the customer and company. Every business is different and to begin making improvements it all starts with a conversation to find out more about some of the specific challenges your company is facing.

If you’re encountering issues with your business processes or would like to talk through some ideas for improvements that can be made, please do get in touch for a friendly chat. It won’t cost you anything and of course, there’s no obligation to use our services, but we’ll gladly offer some tips and advice if we can.