Standardize or customize

Every business delivers value through processes. These are chains of events, that lead to the desired result, and at the end of the day – define how your business works. Looking at your own way of operations, you might find that these processes are very closely tied to a specific scenario – the unique way your company is built.

Some of these processes might work by themselves, based only on human interaction, but eventually you will bump into some, where you need to use some sort of technology. This is a time when you will have to decide- how much do you want technology to adjust to you, and how much do you want to adapt to technology?

Choosing “out of the box” systems and equipmentwithout any customization will be the cheapest option to go by. This will result in an easy to replace, easy to start process support, but you will need a lot of manual interventions – so called “interfaces” which will bridge the gaps between the used pieces. Keep in mind, that after a certain complexity you will end up taking a considerable amount of time focusing on these connections – and not on your core business.

You can build systems from scratch, to fully align with your unique needs. There are a lot of specialists who can provide you tailor made solutions, considering you have the funds. These systems will work seamlessly and will support your (and only your) processes. They come at a higher cost, and usually maintenance will tie you to the initial partner who made the system for you and there is a risk, whether the result will really suit your needs. Moreover, an often-overlooked aspect is, that these systems will age, and become obsolete – so you need to start the process all over again.

Start to use a sales process standard  supported by CRM, a method supporting lean manufacturing, a tool for task management and see how it works out

There are standards, which became standards for a reason, and cover the need of a certain industry or department like manufacturing, logistics, retail or sales. My advice is for you to start small – test out of the box processes and tools which will cover about 40-80% of your initial needs and start finetuning and development of custom additions only after you yourself see how they could work for you. This way you can eliminate the risk of lost investments, and you only pay for the initial testing period and a minor cost of implementation.
If you are not sure how to apply the methods above, do not hesitate to contact me!

#2MinuteThoughts #peterkuna