When technology can't solve your problems

When technology can't solve your problems

In today’s day and age it is easy to think that technology can and will solve all of our problems, especially process related problems. Sales conversion isn’t what you want it to be, get a new and better CRM. PO process isn’t working, get an ERP. Employee onboarding isn’t smooth, get an HRIS.?

While technology can help in many instances we have to take the steps necessary before implementing the technology in order to make it effective. What does that mean? Well, there is an order of things within your company that need to be in place first, it goes like this:?

1. People
2. Process
3. Systems

First you need to make sure you have the right people in the right seats. Then you need to make sure the processes your company runs on are generating consistent and predictable results. Only when you have those pieces in place is it time to look at technology solutions and optimizations.?

Let’s dig into the process side of things a bit more because this is where we see most companies fall down. Why is that? Well, when people start looking at their processes, their line of thinking is usually:?

• Which software can run this process for us AND/OR
• How can we automate this process?

BUT… If we digitize a pointless or poorly designed process we make it even harder for employees to get their work done and we can make the problem even worse. If we are not able to get our processes to generate consistent and predictable results, automating them or putting them into a software is not going to do you any favors.?

So before we go all haywire with buying this and that shiny new tool, we first need to take a few steps:?

• Review the process/problem: what is the actual issue? For example, if you are having an issue with PO approvals taking too long the solution may not be to digitize the approval process if the actual problem is that there are too many stakeholders that need to sign off. Find the root cause you are trying to solve.?
• Solve the real problem: Now that you know the real problem do you need to change the process itself? What is the real problem you need to solve and how do you actually solve it??
• Evaluate technology solutions: Once you know the process has truly been made as efficient as it can be without technology, and it is generating consistent and predictable results, what is the cost benefit of implementing a technology solution to further solve the problem/make the process more efficient??
• Conduct business requirements gathering: words to the wise, don’t go implementing or changing technology without going through in-depth business requirements gathering (more on this another time). This should include a cost-benefit analysis by the way.?

Ta-da! Now you have gone through the necessary steps to understand if technology is the answer to your problem and if it is, you can implement the right solution.?

The main point is this, technology is great, especially with all the insane advancements in AI, but before you go implementing what you think is going to be a solution, please understand your problem first.?

At the foundation of any business system are processes. If we don’t understand how those processes work and if they are as efficient and predictable as they could be, we are doing a huge disservice to our teams by trying to bring technology into the mix.?

Again, using technology to solve a process problem will only work if it is a well designed process. If you have a poorly designed process or inefficient process, applying technology or digitizing the process won’t help much. In most cases it actually makes it worse. And no one wants to be the person who tries to solve a problem and makes it worse. Right??

And remember, technology is a tool, not a solution.?