Business application strategies have ceased to be a luxury and now are a necessity. Companies need to ensure that the software they use meets their business needs and supports their objectives. To acheive this, they must coordinate the functions of their applications and develop plans that allow them to work together. These strategies streamline software applications and detail how they can use them in the most efficient way possible. For small businesses, this is key since they need to stretch their resources and, therefore, could use an effective implementation strategy.
What steps does a company need to comply with to ensure a successful application strategy? Let’s review them.
Which software do we use, and what do we use it for?
First, companies must identify their specific software applications, what functions they fulfill, and identify the differences, i.e., human resources using two different applications for similar tasks because it’s what they are familiar with. For small organizations, their size and comparative simplicity allow them to manage this step more efficiently and with fewer disruptions than larger organizations. Integration simplifies connectivity and makes workflow data less complex, so management can focus on the essential things, such as driving business value.
Can we buy it off the shelf, or do we need to develop new software?
Knowing what you want to accomplish with your company’s software is key to making the right choice for your business. The decision comes on how to get it: is it an existing solution, or do we need one tailored and outsource.
An organization would never second guess purchasing a productivity software, and today, developing a custom ERP software is out of the question. You can even use an off-the-shelf customizable e-commerce solution. Custom development starts at integration (among various solutions or with legacy software). It continues with specific applications to manage proprietary technologies or bring a competitive advantage to the company.
One important thing to consider is security, starting with email and applications that host sensitive information and up to remote access control. A could first service provider may deliver a safer environment at a lower cost than an internal implementation.
“But this is the one that I know how to use …”
One of the challenges of implementation strategy is dealing with legacy software. Businesses use outdated legacy applications because they know their ups and downs, get the job done, and are hard to replace. Typical examples are accounting software that outputs text-on-paper reports. These applications usually work with locally stored data or have no API, representing a significant hurdle towards full software integration.
A successful application strategy needs to identify these legacy applications’ functions and plan an evolutionary path away from their use. A gradual replacement and eventual abandonment of legacy software is the least disruptive path to integration, together with the appropriate end-user training.
Final step: integration
The final step in a business applications strategy is the integration of company software. Typically, a small business chooses an integrated software package that meets most of its needs and then adds custom solutions when necessary.
The most important part of a successful integration relies on outside of the software development environment. A robust change management project is essential to ensure the successful implementation of the business application strategy, with no downtime and increased employee satisfaction.
In custom software, the level of specificity in the company request will be essential at deployment. Specifying the proper premises from the beginning will bring the desired productivity effects.
