The Problem is Choice

"Which CRM should I use?"

"What project management system should I use?"

"I'm currently using x, but it can't do y, what should I use instead?"

I see these questions ALL. THE. TIME.

And, without fail, these types of posts are filled with dozens of suggestions.

What are you supposed to do with all that information?

It's overwhelming. And suddenly a seemingly simple question has you burrowing down more rabbit-holes than Beatrix Potter ever dreamed possible (this may be on my mind due to endless re-reads of these for my 3 yo :P).

But aside from the obvious - now having to go and investigate dozens of glossy, "promise the world" sales pages... the problem is this well-intentioned advice is wrong.

Every.

Single.

Time.

Because the RIGHT answer to this question is "It depends."

It depends on what problem you are trying to solve.

It depends on your existing systems, your existing team, and particularly the workflows you are trying to improve or implement.

Moreover, chances are, what you're asking for... isn't the best way of doing it. There's almost certainly a better way, a simpler way, a more automated way, a cheaper way, a less error-prone way.

And so if you come to the table with a knee-deep, tactical level question... you'll get a knee-deep, tactical level answer.

An answer devoid of strategy.

See answering (and hence asking) this question in isolation is a recipe for:

* so many responses you don't even know how to filter and rate them

* technical system overwhelm

* endless rabbitholes of "research"

* more free trials than you can count (that you probably forget to cancel)

* hours and hours of learning and configuration at a minimum.

* implementing solutions to a problem you don't really have (very common), or

* implementing solutions that fail to deliver an ROI (oh so so common)

Plus systems implemented on the hope of "the grass is greener", only to find those systems:

* Don't do what they promised

* Sort of do what they promised, but in bone dead myopic ways (oh so common) that mean you can't actually use them

* Aren't as all-in-one as you thought

* Are missing critical functionality you only realise later (sidebar: I have a client who, before engaging me, spent NINE MONTHS on an HR system implementation only to realise a critical piece of functionality wasn't available - this was 9 months of custom development, a project manager, licensing, internal project team, the works. Because they bought off what the salesperson said it could do, instead of actually checking how it did it... so they had to scrap the project and start again)

* Don't actually "integrate" the way you thought they would (I've posted about this point before)

* Take forever to implement

* Increase your workload researching them, setting them up, migrating data, training staff, redoing integrations and running two systems in parallel (I've seen this happen for years, especially with CRM) and, ultimately, don't solve your problem.

See systems these days are a little bit sexy. You hear about Trello and kanban ("What's that? Oh, that sounds cool"), and then you're off. Chasing a fad instead of a strategy.

I've built business systems using nothing but paper and whiteboards. It's not about whether system a or system b is better. It's about what is the right business systems STRATEGY for your business?

And that strategy needs to be explicitly tied to the problem you are trying to solve, or opportunity you are trying to realise, and its potential ROI.

If that ROI isn't at least 3x in a reasonably short period of time (say, a year), it's probably a terrible idea to embark on that particular change, at least for a sub-8-figure business.

Ideally, you'd actually have a proper Information Systems Strategy in place. Then these type of questions wouldn't come up, because the answer would be "let's check what the strategy says". The 3 or 5-year strategy. But 99% of sub-$5M don't put the effort in upfront to do this, so they're constantly heading in different directions, "pivoting" and reacting to well-meaning suggestions, ads and articles they come across.

Let me ask you one question - are you this reactive in your decision-making in other areas of your business? Do you run your finances the same way? You're hiring? Your operations? Typically, no. You plan those out, ensure a solid business case, build a process around it and take your time to get it right, knowing that getting it wrong costs you FAR more than moving slightly faster forwards.

So why are systems any different?

But it's worse than that. Despite all the minefields above, the biggest issue is not people picking the wrong system, or wasting too much time or spending too much money.

It's people doing... nothing.

Nudda.

No action.

Because it's all too hard. As The Architect says in The Matrix, "the problem is choice".

So you just go back to what you were doing, and soldier on. Outlook, Word & Excel aren't that bad, after all. Every businesses uses those, right?

Because it's easier. Less risky. Seemingly less costly.

Well, if you take the above process, it IS easier.. and probably sensible to do nothing. But in so doing, you're missing out on the opportunity - the opportunity those well-intentioned commenters were attempting to instil in you in the first place.

The problem is, you need a STRATEGY for your business systems. A strategy that comprises people, process AND technology.

You can't pick technology in isolation. And you certainly can't pick a technology in isolation of all the requirements and all the organisational context of your existing business systems and workflows.

As my mentors are fond of saying,

"Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice."

Yet well-intentioned people are doing this in forums and social settings all day long.

If you want to get this stuff right, start top down.

What problem are you trying to solve?

What's the value of that problem? (This acts as a filter - you'll often stop here, because it's not worth continuing. Move on and find another problem that's more valuable).

What strategy is going to solve that problem?

How do I combine the people, process and technology to realise that strategy?

Then start to shortlist and evaluate technological solutions. Because then you'll be doing so with reference to a strategy and a context, not in isolation.

Then you've got a chance of getting it right. Of actually taking action.

This is what we do - we get it right, by taking a STRATEGIC approach to business problem-solving and opportunity-seeking by leveraging people, process and technology. The technology is only one piece, and not even the most important piece, to be honest.

I am David from Automate Your Business. If you need help implementing this - the combination of people, process & technology required to support streamlined communication SYSTEMS - then give me a call on  0404 027 748 or or email me at  [email protected].