Choosing an app for your business can be quite difficult. And a bad choice can prove to be particularly painful down the road, especially if it is not adapted to your needs and not implemented by professionals. The first portion of the challenge can be resolved by ensuring that most elements for selecting an application are considered before choosing. The important elements include operations, internal work and tasks management, financials, customer management and marketing, people, communications, processes & automation, and collaboration & knowledge. Summarized below, each aspect will have a dedicated article to help with the selection process for each one of the criteria.

Operations

Operations is a broad word. But when choosing an app to manage the operations of your company, it should include most of the functionalities you need as it is run today. Some of these functionalities can includes inventory management and material flow logistics, work scheduling and dispatching, manufacturing and capacity planning, and project management. If all of these functions are not included, the selected app should allow connecting to other applications to ensure seamless operations management.

Internal Work and Tasks

Beyond operations, any company has internal administrative and general workings. Tasks are distributed and projects are managed for other purposes than to deliver the company’s product or service. Such projects can include efficiency improvement, new capability implementation, or a digital transformation. Being able to efficiently and effectively assign, delegate and execute tasks, as well as leave a trail of communication in them, is very important for internal work to be smooth. Centralizing tasks for visibility and capacity planning can be tremendously useful as well.

Financials

In today’s market, whether for profit or not, not a single company can run without proper financial management. While companies succeeded at managing financials fifty years ago, a whole department was required to do simple things such as bookkeeping and financial reports. Today, a single app can do the work of five people fifty years ago. Bookkeeping, tax reports, financial reports, forecasts, as well as connections to invoices, bills, inventory, and so much more, is usually available with today’s applications. When choosing it, care must be taken to ensure that capability and connections are what the company is looking for.

Customer Management and Marketing

Businesses exist only because customers are willing to pay for their products and services. Without customers, businesses would be eternal cash sinks, burning through money at an astounding pace without ever generating a return. Such companies exist, but generally do not last long. To prosper, a company needs a method to generate new customers and then manage them. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools are generally well equipped to handle everything related to customers. From leads generation, through mood and comments tracking to customer support, CRMs are nearly mandatory in all modern companies. Marketing is also an integral part of any business. A software without marketing management capabilities will create a challenge within your company.

Human Capital

Some say that people are the backbone of a business. We agree. In fact, we do not believe in human resources but human capital. People are meant to be investments, not expenses. Unfortunately, due to contemporary accounting practices, people are treated as expendable expenses. But we diverge. Apps should be there to make employees’ lives easier. Apps should include recruitment, compensation, onboarding, training, performance review, and engagement tools, amongst others.

Communications

With people always comes communication. And when considering communication theory, the correct use of digital tools becomes clearer. Using synchronous and asynchronous methods each have their optimal use cases, and specific applications can be selected to ensure communication flows well. And even in our digital day and age, we believe that good old face to face discussions still have value despite the growing popularity and usefulness of digital tools.

Processes and Automation

This aspect is where most value is perceived (possibly even extracted) when implementing a digital solution. Thanks to embedded processes and automated workflows, as well as connections to external apps and APIs, and even sometimes RPA and IPA, automation can make running any business much easier. However, ensuring implementation is done right is critical. The maximum value is created when such apps are integrated by professionals who know both the software inside out and understand how you run your business.

Collaboration and Knowledge

Last but not least, knowledge management and collaboration are what makes a business resilient and effective. Using online knowledge repositories such as wikis and guides, employees can pull knowledge without having to interrupt their colleagues. Additionally, anyone can contribute to the knowledge repositories by adding moderated content to wikis or asking questions or forums or chat channels. With knowledge now being widespread and not tribal, the company’s long-term survival is much more likely.

Takeaway

At the risk of repetition, choosing an app is tricky and difficult. We repeat because it is true. A lot of implications can come out of choosing wrong. And a business is a tremendously complex machine. Knowing what to use when is not only a competitive benefit but also strategically mandatory. The series of articles which follow will provide a more in-depth perspective on the aspects to consider when selecting an application for your business. Contact Mondro to learn more on what your business should use to reach new heights!