The Cost of Doing Nothing

Introduction

Quickbase provides a fantastic platform to build any business on, and the breadth of the applications that can be built is unlimited. At Trinity, we always say, “If you can define it, Trinity can build it.” However, there is a cost to do so, and one of the reasons that many companies do not proceed with a project is the cost. Understandably, the cost of the application development plus the cost of the Quickbase platform must be considered.

But potentially more important questions should be asked. What is the cost of…

– Doing nothing?

– Continuing with manual-based processes?

– Putting up with solutions that are not meeting the needs of your business?

– Using bloated apps that you use only a portion of that meets only part of your needs and the rest is in the way?

– Using apps that are incorrectly designed for your workflows?

Doing Nothing

Many areas of a business get affected by doing nothing. Let’s look at a few of them.

– Productivity. This is one of the primary reasons that clients come to Trinity – to help them improve what they do so they can be more efficient and optimize their resources. Productivity is the cornerstone of business process improvement and has enabled many of our clients to significantly expand their businesses while keeping costs in check. Without the correct supporting processes and applications in place, operational costs can grow exponentially to handle poor processes or a lack of systems.

– Service. With the pace of business continuously accelerating, providing top-notch service to your clients is a must. But, if you do not have the systems in place to track projects, task assignments, key performance indicators, and service levels, then your team reverts to the best way they know how to do so. Many times, these are spreadsheets that management has no visibility to or the use of poorly designed apps that leads to inconsistency between your team members and their delivery in service and product.

– Quality. The expectation of the marketplace today is that goods and services will be delivered to an extremely high level of quality. Companies that do not have adequate systems in place to measure the quality of the output, whether services or products have no way to hold their employees accountable and provide metrics to their clients.

– People. Your team knows what needs to change and how it needs to be changed. Whether it is processes or solutions, they know. And when you do nothing to make those changes, to advance the business, to invest in the future, they see that as well. Sometimes this causes unnecessary frustrations, or the team will figure out unnecessary workarounds to meet commitments, track projects, keep the boss happy, and so on. These underlying costs continue to add up without any understanding of why your costs are going up, why commitments are not being met, and why your team is frustrated.

Real-Life Scenarios

A home health care business was drowning in paperwork and outdated processes but wanted to double and even triple their business. They knew the time and financial commitment was significant but had confidence in how Trinity could lead the project. Working together, we completely revamped all business processes, developed a solution to support the new workflows, and then rolled it out to all employees. Overnight the business was transformed and handled a large influx of new business with a much higher employee utilization and no new support staff. Within months, their margins and profits were higher than they ever imagined.

A construction company was buried under spreadsheets and a lack of consistent processes for tracking projects, tasks, time, and materials. Everyone had their own way of doing things and became comfortable with it, but no one had any visibility to what was going on. With the various components of what they imagined (workstation, mobile, integrations with some legacy solutions that would need to stay in place), the cost was going to be significant for a full solution. Stepping out of their comfort zone (aka cost) to achieve their vision, they did a complete revamp of their processes considering best practices across their organization. Teams were energized to participate and transform the business. It has paid off in improved customer engagement and service, a fully mobile workforce enabling visibility and data into every aspect of the business.

How about an example that involves Trinity? After the COVID pandemic struck, we made the decision to move forward with a new digital marketing strategy. The cost was significant, and it was not an easy decision. We knew it would take time to build up our web presence and that any payoff would come down the road. Halfway into the new strategy, our digital agency recommended that we double our ad spending amount. In the middle of a pandemic? Yes. If we wanted to really find clients that could benefit from our expertise, yes. Tough decision, yes. Outcome – it has exceeded our expectations and we believe that we’ll even do better as time progresses.

Investing in the foundation of your business does take some faith. Basing it on a future vision and not just dollars can pay off if it is done correctly with the proper diligence and leadership.

 

Trinity works with many clients to help them achieve productivity, service, and quality improvements. Trinity has been a Quickbase Solution Provider (QSP) for 16+ years and has extensive expertise in developing and enhancing Quickbase applications. We understand what it takes to build great Quickbase applications to meet your exact business needs.

For more information about Trinity and a demonstration of our capabilities, contact Scott Burday at sburday@trinityis.com or 214-937-4534.