Software and Process Development

With good employees moving frequently between opportunities and competing technologies promising daily to revolutionize your enterprise, it is now more important than ever to have the correct software and processes in place. Ideally, the need for such enhancements will appear naturally as your business grows. Too often, however, it appears suddenly when a significant, but avoidable, negative event occurs. Better processes and software can reduce both cost and risk, create a more informed and capable workforce, and generally allow you to be more competitive in the marketplace.

How We Can Help

Custom Software Development

Our custom software solutions allow you to get the most out of your existing business processes. We provide spreadsheet add-ins and perform advanced coding and query scripting, all geared toward integrating the many data sources and applications you routinely use.

Process Mapping and Design

In more complex processes, a good way to identify weaknesses is to clearly identify component tasks, the sequence in which they occur, and the people or equipment responsible for them. Usually process deficiencies can be attributed to one or two flawed tasks and with proper identification, corrections can be easily made.

Quick Fixes

Often, the deficiencies in a process are well understood and we can get right to work. We can fix the formula or macro that isn’t working properly. We can write a better SQL query for your data. We can set form controls to minimize input errors. We can even standardize your data and eliminate those errors after they’ve occurred.

SOP Development

Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are detailed instructions about how certain tasks are to be performed. Established SOPs drive accountability, create a more comfortable work environment, and allow new employees to learn tasks quickly. We can author or update SOPs for your critical tasks.

How We Are Unique

Solution-Neutral

We’re simply interested in solving your problems. We also want to ensure the solution we recommend today will work for your business as it grows. We’re not operating under some unique process improvement school of thought.

Methodical

We’ll quickly identify an account manager within your organization and identify project outcomes. In bigger projects, we may conduct surveys or interviews with others in your organization to ensure any solution we recommend will benefit everyone and have minimal impact on your core operations.

Free (Sometimes)

New tools and solutions are released monthly. If we need to enhance our organizational expertise on a new software tool because we feel it might be right for you, we will do so at our own expense. If we need to pursue a theoretical solution that could be applied to your business problem, we will do so at our own expense until we are convinced it is the right direction.

Objective

As an outside source of expertise, we’re sufficiently removed from the interpersonal dynamics in your organization. This isn’t to say we won’t consider these when recommending a solution, but rather that our only bias is toward helping you accomplish your goals.

Considerations

The Software Trap

Software-based process improvements can benefit your business, but they should only be adopted as part of a broader process improvement initiative. Buying new software, particularly for your entire enterprise, almost always feels like progress. But no software will completely overcome structural or methodical deficiencies.

Operational Disruption

Software-based process improvements often ask you to make sweeping changes to your enterprise in order to solve smaller, more localized problems. For example, new inventory software might require significant changes to both your inventory control and vendor payment processes.

Case Studies