(…the importance of annual software reviews)

We review our staff every six months to discuss their effectiveness, challenges, and successes, yet we don’t set this time aside to assess the hardest working part of your team – your software. 

Is your current setup still the best fit for your business?  Have you outgrown its functionality? Or maybe you just need to update your team’s skills on the more advanced features available that you haven’t needed until now.

Today we will discuss why it is imperative to do annual software reviews and how this small amount of time invested can create a more productive and cost-effective business.

Underutilisation

Have you ever thought – I wish my software could do that, only to dig a little deeper and find it that it actually could?  Reassessing how you are using your software can bring to light better, more efficient ways of doing things in your office – without the cost of having to buy new software. 

Business growth

Business needs are constantly changing as your organisation grows and morphs over time.  Do you need to look at the way you run processes to meet new legislative requirements, or have you just outgrown how you were doing things?  Paper timesheets were fine when you had 20 employees, but now you have 200, and payroll is taking a whole day instead of a few hours, not to mention the risk of human error entering that much data.  Could you be better utilising bits of your software that seemed unimportant when you installed it?

New Reports

As businesses change and grow, so will your need for information.  Creating new reports and adding 3rd party products and customisations can give you access to a lot of information you did not have before. These little tweaks can save your business time and money and provide you with access to data that will help you not only see where you are now but allow you to prepare for the future.

Functionality

Is your software up to date? Are you running an older version, thus missing out on updates and features available on the newest release?  Updates can be a small cost in comparison to the benefits that they can bring to your business.

Evaluation

After all of this analysis, you will be at one of two places –  either you will now have a list of ways you can improve your current system, and therefore your business as a whole.  Or, secondly, you will realise that you have outgrown your existing system.  Even if this is the case, you now have a very specific set of guidelines for what you need when upgrading your software.

While it can be hard to find the time to schedule your annual software reviews, it can bring massive improvements to your business for a small investment of time and money.  If you would like to schedule a discussion with one of our software experts to see if you are utilising your solution to the best of its ability, contact Thrive today.  We listen. We understand, and we find solutions.