More than likely, you’ve heard the term ‘digital transformation’ so often in the past few years that it’s become background noise. But the reality is that businesses which are going digital are becoming today’s winners – and will be tomorrow’s top performers, too. If your business is struggling and you’ve let digital transformation be something that happens to others, there’s a good chance your outdated systems are at least partially to blame.
That much has become clear in new research from MYOB conducted by the respected Forrester Group. Titled ‘Seizing Advantage: The Technology Pivot ANZ Businesses Must Make’, the study makes the case for unified business and people management platforms for midmarket firms. Or, in other words, it points out why a modern, integrated enterprise resource planning solution is essential for efficiency, customer management, visibility across your company, and ongoing success.
Now, I’ll just note at this juncture that across New Zealand and certainly elsewhere, many organisations are indeed struggling and for many, software is the least of their worries. There’s the impact of COVID lockdowns, rapidly changing customer requirements, an accelerated shift towards ‘contactless’ trading and heightened reliance on what can probably be called ‘arms-length’ interaction. Some, all or none of this might be happening in your organisation; there may well be other factors, too, which can’t be addressed no matter what technology you might deploy.
But for a great many others, COVID has had a rather stunning impact. It has led to a surge in demand and coping has been hard because of the limitations imposed by inadequate systems which don’t scale. This is something we see every day at all kinds of companies all over New Zealand, where clunky old technology absolutely plays an inhibitory role.
It’s actually quite easily identified, too, because as soon as you have manual workarounds including excessive use of spreadsheets, processes dependent on paper forms, or people looking at one screen for information then typing into another, you know there are big gaps in the systems. Even easier, if you’re using on-premises software which is decades old, and you also rely on a dizzying array of products including off-the shelf and custom software, well, there is probably a FAR better way of doing it.
The interesting thing is that we see these challenges in organisations of every kind. It often has more than a little to do with how so many businesses in New Zealand got off the ground; you know the story, a one-man band strikes a chord, meets with some success, keeps delivering quality products and services, starts growing quickly, needs a bit more than the accounting package, bits and pieces of technology are ‘band-aided’ on as and when required, the years slip by almost unnoticed, and suddenly, two or three decades later, there’s a company of 50 or 100 people held together by spreadsheets, chewing gum and more than a few sweaty and furrowed brows.
It made sense on the journey, but when a business analyst takes a look in the cold hard light of day, such an arrangement simply screams ‘inefficient’. Inefficiency doesn’t just mean stress for the owners of those sweaty brows, it also means missed opportunities, wasted time and a constant drain on productivity. You know what I mean: who, out of anyone, loves time-sheeting? Or completing leave application forms ahead of a holiday? Or collating reams of paper in the procure to pay process?
Coming back to the MYOB/Forrester study, then. They went out and spoke with people like you, running companies like yours.
Among the key findings are:
- Midmarket businesses’ core internal business systems are not fit for modern digital commerce.
- Decision-makers struggle to build the case for change. You almost certainly recognise the necessity for change, but may struggle with the ‘how’.
- Success in the post-pandemic digital era requires a modern solution.
You’ll almost certainly find yourself nodding in agreement with these findings, particularly if they ring true for your organisation. If that is the case, I invite you to download the full study and take it in. Not only will it help you identify the challenges in your organisation, it will also set the scene for making a business case and determining a path forward.
Grab your copy of Seizing Advantage: The Technology Pivot ANZ Businesses Must Make.
In the next blog, I’ll share key recommendations from the report which can set your organisation on the road to better performance.
