The best software solutions are invisible: their fit is hand-in-glove. The software becomes part of the “every day”.
Your operational software should not add friction to what you do. It should be value-adding and incentivise people to enter data and share information to the point where that process becomes automatic.
Great software automates many mundane back-office processes and moves an organisation from focusing on data management to data-supported decision making and communication.
Managers should spend their time making good decisions and increasing productivity, not managing data.
Great software should also connect directly with people on the ground, engage them and distribute the workload.
As opposed to someone having to report something and someone else having to translate their message and enter the data that creates a message to someone else instructing them to complete a task.
For example, when there is a problem with a vehicle and someone in the field has to say,
“I have a problem with my vehicle. Here are the details of it and here’s the photo. Can you email it to the mechanic to ask them what I should do?”
Great operations solutions do not waste your time and effort
The vehicle operator communicates directly with the mechanic when the maintenance request is lodged in the software, rather than sent to admin and the workshop supervisor and then to the mechanic.
With great software, the mechanic — once notified — can directly request more information and schedule the repair in accordance with the urgency.
Software that communicates within an organisation can also communicate beyond the organisation; Automated messages are sent to external stakeholders when a resident’s request has been completed. A simple SMS notification sent to residents that the rubbish truck has been delayed could save hundreds of unnecessary communications with residents.
Great software solutions become a team’s single source of truth. It tells everybody in the group what has happened, what is happening and what might happen.
And great software is needed to help managers meet some of the significant challenges looming on the horizon:
- Integrating technology into the business process
- Transforming data management into communication
- Continuous improvement
Great operational software will transform an organisation’s information into communication.
