Category: Business Process Improvement

Times are changing and the business world is scrambling to keep up. These are strange times indeed and managers need to react quickly to keep their teams working efficiently.  Let’s be honest: as enjoyable as it is to work from home in your pajamas, it can often be difficult to remotely manage a workforce and stay productive.  Some organizations will thrive in this environment. In fact, companies such as Twitter and Square have officially told employees that they can permanently work from home. As a result, the goal of this article is to help you survive and thrive with changing team dynamics in this brave new world that we are facing.  Let’s look at 5 ways that your company can move forward in today’s changing workplace.  1. Embrace the Cloud 2020 has become an ideal year to make the switch towards digitizing your entire workflow. This includes apps, storage, communications, and operations.  While it is true that a migration can be difficult at first, it is also equally true that the efficiency gained can be massively rewarding. Using platforms such as Quickbase, it is possible to design customized software applications to centralize, streamline, and future-proof your business operations.  In the case of cloud-based technology, you can keep your entire business operation connected and lower your company’s IT costs.  On top of money saved, using a cloud workspace gives access to scalability, consistent backups, encryption, and emergency backups. Luckily, adopting a cloud workspace is straightforward and usually involves minimal training time for workers.  This is all great. But truly, the beauty of having a cloud-based system means that you finally have access to total flexibility for your workforce. Everyone can access the same servers from across the world and manage virtually any business function, giving your company full control over your future. 2. It’s Time to Go Paperless Going paperless is like migrating over to the cloud. At Trinity, we help our clients utilize web-based form technology to gather and exchange information or use document assembly software to create customized documents. Having a paperless company enables your workforce to get things done. Fast.  Digital collaboration and paperwork are made easy without having to store tons of documents in a physical office space. Plus, your accounting team will be grateful to have everything digitally available: sending and receiving invoices, payments, and common accounting functions can all be done on the cloud. 3. Customized Software for Scalability Customized business process solutions are our specialty. We love helping clients tackle customized software that makes scaling easy. Off-the-shelf software platforms typically have a limited capacity for scaling and customization. It’s important to consider your long-term goals. Picture this: your team is adjusting to remote working. You want to encourage business growth and are not happy with your off-the-shelf software. At Trinity, we have helped companies across the world meet these challenges. Think of this pandemic as an opportunity to mobilize and take a proactive approach.  As a Quickbase Solution Provider, we specialize in application development that is ideal for scaling. We can help your organization roll out software over a rapid timeline. 4. Prioritize Cybersecurity You’ve probably heard about the insane amount of ransomware and cyberattacks attacks that have affected everyone from Apple to police departments across the United States. Cyberattacks usually are focused on accessing, changing, or destroying business information.  As a result, we need to be vigilant concerning cybersecurity and only use encrypted technology to prevent or mitigate cyberattack risk. We can happily state that Quickbase obtained an A rating from SecurityScorecard, which is an independent security rating service that rates digital companies based on the strength and comprehensiveness of their platform security.  Cybersecurity and encryption are huge. If you’re going to have your entire corporate operation based on the cloud or utilize digital web-based applications in any capacity, thoroughly examine the platform you work with.  5. Embrace New Communication Methods There are lots of applications that when utilized together can make your working life 100% easier. It’s funny how a simple combination of tools can vastly enhance the quality of output and efficiency of a company.  The first step is to find a single platform that allows your team to pick and choose which apps they use. In our case, we have multiple Quickbase integrated apps that are designed to streamline your work life. These include:  Online Scheduling: If your company wants an efficiency upgrade, check out an online calendar and scheduling tool. We recommend TrinityCalendar. The application is fully integrated with Quickbase and has streamlined scheduling and resource management features. Digital Signatures: TrinitySignature is a Quickbase digital signature solution. Your team can use digital signatures to make signing forms and outputs fast and easy. Plus, you can utilize the tool inside the web version of Quickbase or Trinity can design a custom mobile app that integrates with Quickbase. Virtual Meetings: We’re all probably familiar with virtual platforms to handle meetings remotely during this pandemic. We recommend examining the security credentials of your video conferencing platform.  If your organization wants a guiding hand to help determine next steps during this changing time, we can help. Developing customized software is our forté. If you can define it – we can build it.  Get in touch with Trinity and we can explore the options.  […]

Read More… from 5 Tips for Handling a Changing Workplace

We’re living in unprecedented times. In a few short months, the world has been altered forever, and every person on the planet is being forced to adapt. Now, the economy is facing a rough ride and businesses must adjust their operation strategy or become another casualty of the pandemic. Are you going to let this pandemic sink your business? Or will your organization choose to adapt, and keep afloat through these challenging economic times?  The purpose of this article is to observe the five ways that people and organizations are changing their working tactics to weather the recession and survive. With each point, we suggest a tactic to help your business or organization meet the challenge.    More Remote Work (Even After the Pandemic) Gartner, Inc. conducted a survey in March 2020 and found that 88% of businesses have either encouraged or required employees to work from home. They also found that 97% of organizations have canceled work-related travel.  This will undoubtedly rock many organizations to their core. It’s a challenge to change your entire business operation within such a rapid timeframe. This isn’t a time for worry – in fact, it’s an opportunity to revamp your business operation in an efficient manner. If your organization hasn’t done so already, consider migrating to a cloud workspace. Cloud servers offer easy collaboration for remote workers. Plus, adopting a cloud workspace is easy and has a short training time frame. Your formerly office-based staff can access cloud desktops and run an entire company virtually. Creating customer orders, completing administrative tasks, and updating employee files are just a few of the tasks you can do. Virtually any office task can be achieved remotely, and workers can access the cloud from anywhere with consistent backups, essentially avoiding any risk of physical disasters destroying your data.  Cloud workspaces also offer scalability and you only pay for the storage you need. There’s no longer a need for hardware in your office space, which can get outdated quickly. Cloud technology enables you to scale services solely to what your company needs now.  There’s a strong chance that many companies will embrace the remote cloud workspace and keep most workers remote. This will save serious money on overhead such as office space and computer hardware.    New Communication Methods Effective leadership and a clear timeline will enable your company to make these changes in a measured manner. Your leadership should provide a clear ‘plan of action’ for employees to have full disclosure and comfort with your COVID-19 proof strategy. We recommend only referencing information from verified sources such as the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  It’s important to establish team guidelines to ensure that there are ground rules for your new remote working strategy. Record numbers of employers are introducing intentional ‘peer-to-peer’ interactions such as regular virtual check-ins with managers, and virtual ‘all hands on deck’ meetings on platforms such as Zoom, GoToMeeting or Microsoft Teams. Having ‘core team time’ helps employees stay in the loop and helps stave off feelings of isolation.  One key tool is utilizing online scheduling – an exceptionally useful tool for scheduling and resource management. We use TrinityCalendar to easily expand our calendar and scheduling needs while connecting with other Quickbase applications. When all our applications are connected, it makes our organization flow become fast, smooth, and at peak efficiency.  Another benefit of using Quickbase applications is the sheer effectiveness. Using features such as digital signatures, you can capture a digital signature and use it on all your forms and outputs. These have a user and time stamp to ensure authenticity while making it easy for HR or other members of your workforce to approve, sign, and authorize documents or reports.  Whichever communication platform you choose, ensure that it can integrate with a wide variety of apps and has project management features to manage, track, and administer workflows. Only work with flexible tools as your business grows and changes.   More Tech, Less Travel Pre COVID-19 crisis, it was considered normal to have millions of people traveling for business every day. But this pandemic is forcing organizations to reconsider the impact of travel in many ways. Yes, there are environmental drawbacks, and there are also serious health considerations as we’re forced to accept that air travel has quickly spread a disease that has negatively impacted human health and the global economy.  Many businesses are realizing that there are far more cost-effective ways of communication. Instead of footing the travel costs (flight, hotel, food, and so on) of employees, why not just invest in the cloud and host video conferencing? Virtual technology is seeing a massive uptick during the Coronavirus crisis. Once this is over, we will see a lasting progression of cloud use, virtual technology, and videoconferencing.  This adaption of technology is a good thing. Offices will never fully disappear. Humans are social creatures and there are benefits of having a team in one place for certain business functions. The corporate world is realizing that sending employees across the world is unsustainable in many ways. Post-pandemic, we will see a drop in global business travel as corporations save travel for only the most essential purposes.     Everything is Going Online We’ve heard about the retail apocalypse for some time now. Now, it’s being accentuated by a pandemic that is literally closing shops and forcing restaurants and retail businesses to either embrace online shopping or fail. This pandemic is leading to a rapid increase in online, pickup, and delivery options for shopping and food sales. Again, this trend will outlast the pandemic and businesses in these spaces should prepare their business model for long-term growth in online sales and strategy.  This increase in home entertainment will continue to affect the cinema industry as the film industry is already adapting by releasing entertainment directly online to streaming platforms. Online businesses are growing and it’s safe to say that every industry will need to adapt to increased consumer […]

Read More… from 5 Ways the Coronavirus Pandemic Has Changed the Way People Work

Imagine that you found a time machine and went back in time to the beginning of 2020. Imagine telling your co-workers that in a few months the whole company would be working from home, the economy would be on the brink of recession, and the entire world would be battling the biggest pandemic since 1918.  They probably would have laughed at you.  Very few people aside from experts such as Bill Gates saw this coming. Whether we were prepared for a recession or not, few of us were prepared for the combination of a deadly pandemic and a subsequent economic downturn.  And that’s okay. You don’t have to be hard on yourself because of this. What you should do is compose yourself, rally the troops, and adjust your strategy accordingly. Your country, your company, and your family will overcome this pandemic and recession.  At Trinity, we’ve had many clients come to us asking for advice on how to remotely manage a workforce – and how to implement it fast. After all, our company is a 100% remote organization! We have experience in these spaces, and we can happily assist your team in rolling out the custom software applications and digital solutions that you need. Many of our products are perfect for constructing a remote company that is fast, straightforward, and streamlined. How to Manage Your Workforce Remotely (Despite a Global Pandemic) Below are five strategies for effectively managing your workforce during the COVID-19 crisis. We use our products as an example – and you aren’t limited to using these. But we can faithfully state that ours are almost certainly the best! Pace the Transition We understand that this is a crucial time for many businesses to stay afloat. It’s swim or sink right? Absolutely, but there should be an adjustment period for employees to come to grips with new remote workplace procedures and systems. Train employees without rushing them and slowly introduce the new applications and processes. If you rush this transition process, it may lead to serious mistakes that nobody can afford to make. It’s a cliché, but slow and steady wins the race.  Embrace the Cloud Workspace If your organization hasn’t already, this is an opportune time to digitize your apps, storage, operations, and communications and go paperless. Migrating can be difficult at first, but the efficiency gained will be massively rewarding. Working with the cloud is an opportunity to use software such as Quickbase to centralize and streamline your business operation while using apps that work together to make your workload easier.  Enhance Your Scheduling Tools We recommend using a cloud-based solution to enhance your calendar and scheduling capabilities. There are excellent solutions available for online scheduling such as TrinityCalendar, which is fully integrated with Quickbase. It has a multitude of features for flexible scheduling.  It’s much more cost-effective to have a reliable scheduling and calendar platform that doesn’t have ongoing costs. Take Advantage of Digital Signatures Using an application such as TrinitySignature enables you to capture a digital signature in Quickbase and mobile applications. Digital signatures are great, especially when your HR department is sick of dealing with physical signatures that need to be printed, filed, and transferred again. Digital signatures/eSignatures are dated with full details. Implement a Time & Attendance System Many of your employees will be completely new to working from home. It’s becoming quickly apparent that solutions for tracking this transition are critical. It’s important to ensure that employees are spending time wisely and don’t lose productivity. Nobody wants the company to get lost in the transition phase of managing an entirely remote workforce.  We can help your company track employee hours using a time and attendance system. These are paperless programs on the cloud that help your team manage employee time, attendance, payroll and benefits all in one place. This helps your organization maintain efficiency across the board.  Applications Designed to Your Specification Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, our clients have requested methods to quickly and accurately track employee assets, expense management, time tracking, PTO and much more.  Fortunately, Trinity has a wide range of experience in these spaces and we are happy to assist your organization in rolling out the necessary solutions you need in an expedited manner. We understand that time is of the essence! We’re a Quickbase Gold Partner and our team are experts in business process improvement and Quickbase application development. Think of this crisis as an opportunity to revamp your systems and processes. By combining our Quickbase solutions and our business process expertise, we develop a customized plan to upgrade your business. By automating processes, you will see improved efficiency and quality of output. In addition to process improvement strategies, as a Quickbase Solution Provider, we specialize in application development. Web-based or mobile-based, we utilize the Quickbase platform to curate the perfect business technology solution for your organization.  Our unofficial slogan is that ‘if you can define it, we can build it’. At Trinity, we try to make implementation of new systems smooth and easy. We integrate your current systems with Quickbase and sync all your external data. On top of this, we walk your team through the process. We want to eliminate the chances of any issues during the transition phase occurring.  Let’s optimize your operations.  […]

Read More… from 5 Tips for Remotely Managing Your Workforce During the COVID-19 Crisis

Build versus buy – it’s a classic question that stumps businesses that require enterprise-level software solutions. On one hand, you can use off-the-shelf software that is ready to be deployed. On the other, you can develop custom software and design it according to your corporate needs and specifications.  But which is the best option for your company? To answer that question, let’s examine the specifics. To be honest there isn’t a universal solution: it depends on the complexities of your software needs. That’s why we’ve created a simple list to help you determine the perfect route forward based on your situation. How to Choose the Perfect Software Solution We’ve highlighted 5 factors to consider during your decision-making process. For each factor, we will divide the pros and cons of both off-the-shelf and customized software solutions. 1. Company size  Off-the-shelf: We all know that business needs fluctuate extensively according to the size and requirements of the company. Smaller companies typically have less time, resources, and budget to create customized software. Off-the-shelf software comes ready-to-use and will have fewer bugs or usability issues. These will often be faster to implement but less customized to your specific requirements.  Customized: Often, we find that customized business solutions can be worth the extra effort to get rolling. For instance, additional effort and investment towards developing custom software can pay-off for long-term efforts. You’re creating a more streamlined and customized platform that is perfect for scaling as your company grows. 2. Budget Off-the-Shelf: It’s obvious that most smaller companies don’t have the resources or budget to develop custom software. Off-the-shelf software has a lower upfront cost and gives the company access to unlimited software support. On the flip side, there are often unexpected fees to account for including licensing, upgrades, and support. Customized: It’s entirely possible that the ongoing subscription fees for off-the-shelf software exceed the cost of developing customized software. Maintenance contracts can add up over time. It’s true that custom software can increase your costs and timeline. But – the high price can often pay-off as you gain additional functionality and efficiency. 3. Implementation Off-the-Shelf: Most commercial off the shelf solutions are easy to implement because that’s what they’re designed for. They exist to serve a function while your workforce focuses on the core business operation. Keep in mind, it’s still important to test multiple solutions and calculate the lifetime costs of using any particular software.  Customized: Your development team needs to account for a host of factors such as budget, timeline, testing, and implementation costs. It’s also a keen idea to calculate the lifetime costs of supporting, upgrading, and maintaining the software. If you’re going to develop customized software, it’s imperative to recruit a seasoned business process solutions provider who has a strong track record. It’s a nice feeling when your software improves your business efficiency to greater heights than you previously imagined. 4. Customization  Off-the-Shelf: It’s true that COTS software won’t be as inherently customizable as an in-house designed solution. However, many software suites have a high degree of customization and functionality. The best way to determine whether a package suits your needs is to consult with their software representatives and conduct due diligence. Remember to stick to the facts, we’ve all seen salespeople that promise the world.  Customized: Here’s a general tip: developing software in-house is a solid option if you require extensive customization. Remember that a custom software solution can have a big upfront cost, but there is potential for a strong ROI and scalability of your business model in-house. If you want to develop a truly flexible software suite make sure that you utilize low code business solutions. This is important: you don’t want to develop a platform that is inaccessible or difficult to use. 5. Scalability Off-the-Shelf: Your software selection should be scalable enough to account for the current requirements of your company. You should also consider future expansion compared to your ongoing needs. Your team might find that an OTS solution can account for your future growth and budget.  Customized: Picture this: your business is growing and you’re quickly finding that you want to add features and departments to your current software. This is why it’s a strong idea to ensure your software is built with scalability in mind. Off-the-shelf solutions have a limited capacity for this which is why you should think long-game. Conclusion Whether you choose an OTS solution or design your own software, your decision should be based on your current and future situation in mind. This means taking time to heavily plan and forecast.  And this is where Trinity comes in. If you decide that a customized software solution is necessary: you should work with a business solutions provider that can guide you through the process. Trinity is not here to force you to develop custom software but we sure can help with your process!  If you want a free consultation – Trinity will give you a recommendation based on your software needs and situation. If you’re better suited to an OTS solution: we’ll tell you. Conversely, if you are ready to develop customized software: we will help you every step of the way.  If you can define it, we can build it. Trinity develops web-based and mobile-based software to help companies manage everything from simple to complex processes. Plus, everything in between. If you want to have a custom software application developed, get in touch and we’ll explore the options.   […]

Read More… from Off-the-Shelf vs Custom Software Applications: Which is Right for Your Business?

It’s an amazing feeling when you work with a company that’s expanding and scaling exactly according to your game plan. With any growth, there can be growing pains, and that’s okay. We focus on meeting challenges with proactive solutions that enhance your business operation.  One of the most common issues that businesses face when scaling is moving on from commercial ‘off-the-shelf’ (COTS) software and utilizing custom software applications. On the surface, COTS software may seem cheaper and easier to use because it’s mass-produced. But, that’s where the benefits of using commercial off-the-shelf software dry up. There are strong business benefits to deploying a custom software application.   Benefits of Using a Customized Business Software Let’s examine the top seven reasons why your company will gain traction rolling out customized business software.   1. Long-Term Cost Benefits Let’s get right into it: when you are developing custom software in-house, there are potentially some serious cost barriers to consider. It takes time, company effort, and capital to get a software development up and running. But, custom software solutions have a serious long-term cost benefit. There are large potential savings as you develop more efficient operational processes while avoiding COTS software fees. While there may be a greater upfront investment, custom software pays dividends down the line, especially when an enterprise can use custom software to drastically improve the efficiency of their organization.   2. Software Built to Your Exact Specifications Instead of dealing with the limitations of off-the-shelf software, your company instead has access to a solution that is designed exactly according to your needs. Imagine a delightful mix of integration with your internal processes and existing software/hardware while simultaneously streamlining and improving your business operation. With custom software, you can update, improve, and upgrade whenever your company needs to. There is considerable competitive advantage in having an ability to quickly modify and improve your software platforms. While your competitors wait for the next software update, your team is innovating and improving your process. 3. Beautiful Scalability We often see businesses mired in endless upgrade costs, troubleshooting delays, licensing fees, and infrastructure issues when using off-the-shelf software. It’s to be expected. But why hold your company back? Scalability is an important factor to consider moving forward. Is your software scalable enough to account for your current business requirements AND your future growth needs? Take a look at your wish list. As your firm grows, you’ll likely need to add software features while onboarding additional staff and even departments to the mix. Does your COTS software cut it or does your team need something more dynamic?     4. Automation and Effectiveness Does your company find itself changing business processes to match the functionality of your COTS software? This is a sure-fire sign that it’s time to create custom software that can meet every challenge. You need a program that’s fully integrated and can improve upon your business processes. Customized business solutions can simultaneously integrate with your business operation and automate almost any function of an organization to a higher level than typical off-the-shelf software. Imagine having software functionality that perfectly aligns with your business. No more adjusting your business to fit the capabilities of a limited software platform. Instead, enjoy less effort and staff training and more synergy and automated work processes. Faster efficiencies almost always translate to reduced overhead and cost savings.   5. System Integration Many companies design custom software applications that enable more effective integration with your existing systems. Examples of this include API integration with accounting software, or integrations with popular file management programs like Box and Dropbox. The possibilities are endless when it comes to integration and it’s an effective technique for avoiding errors, redundancy, and the hassle of searching between systems. When your company data is streamlined and integrated, it’s amazing how much efficiency and ease your business can achieve.    6. Access to Outside Expertise If your company decides to develop custom software, your team will need to select an excellent vendor that can deliver your project requirements. It’s also a bonus when they bring unique solutions and innovation to the table. Work with a business process solutions provider who has proven experience developing software and has case studies that are worth bragging about. Any good developer will give you advice and strategy that addresses technical factors such as APIs, data consolidation, data migration, data structures, protocols, software merging, user authentication, and functionality. When properly utilized, they can serve as your consultant and help you determine budget, timeline, and project scope.     7. More Support Does your company experience issues dealing with software that doesn’t quite meet your needs? Off-the-shelf software is usually just that. It’s a product that’s mass-produced and affordable, but limited when addressing specific needs. If this is an issue, your business would benefit from making a measured switch. Customized software can grow as your company grows while also adapting with other systems. Your programs can develop as your business does because you’re directly working with developers. On top of this, there are options such as low code business solutions that can make it easier for companies to manage the daily operations of their businesses.    Many companies can benefit from using custom software. It’s astonishing how much more efficient and dynamic a business operation can become just by developing custom programs.    Would you like to learn more about how your business can specifically benefit? Contact Trinity today. You might learn something new about your software needs and how you can make your business much more efficient. […]

Read More… from 7 Benefits of Using Customized Business Software

Working with business process solution providers can be tricky. You want to choose a quality solution that is cost-effective, yet provides excellent ROI. Business process management should help you increase your efficiency, service, and quality. You want to work with a company that optimizes your processes, with easy implementation, and reliable support so you can focus on your core business. Let’s examine 10 crucial questions that you should ask your business process solutions provider.   10 Questions to Ask When Searching for a Business Process Solutions Provider These questions will help ensure that you work with a business process solution provider that understands your business and needs.   What Makes You Different to Other Business Process Solutions Providers?  Although this may seem like a generic question, it’s a good way to weed out the providers that offer a weak answer or no real differentiation to their approach. You will benefit from working with a business process solution provider that specializes in a high level of customer service. Don’t be afraid to dive deep and ask about their process management strategy. An excellent provider will likely even have their process in working with clients documented. If you’re just treated like another number or client in the roster, beware before you start any business relationship.   Tell Us About Your Company Culture  If possible, you should try to not only meet the salespeople, but also the staff that keeps the cogs of the machine running. Ask to meet any project managers, solution specialists, the technical team, and the leaders of the company. Visit the company HQ if you can see their people in action.  When surveying business process solution providers, there’s no such thing as too many questions. If you get the sense that you’re dealing with top quality staff with a positive work culture, proceed. On the flip side, if you get the feeling of apathy, unresponsiveness, or even incompetence, it’s time to find another firm to work with.   Which Aspects of Your Business Are Outsourced? This can be a telling question that reveals a lot about a company. You need to know what functions they do internally compared to what is outsourced. No provider can do it all, but some tasks may require outsourcing while others may be more sensitive. If you are dealing with contracts that consist of classified data, you’ll need to question which 3rd parties are involved and how your data is treated in these scenarios.   Can You Provide References? It’s surprising how often this question is overlooked. If the company doesn’t have references or actionable examples of their process, are they worthy of such investment? It’s hugely beneficial to talk with current customers to find out whether your potential provider actually delivers on their promises. Even if this means contacting them yourself, consider it time well spent before investing with a business process solution firm. Ask the company if they can provide case studies and materials that walks you through their process. As an example, Trinity provides guides with actionable advice on topics such as business process automation software mistakes, customer success stories, how-to guides on various software, and best practice for API integration.   What Are the Contingency Plans if Infrastructure Fails? Your business process management provider should have a disaster recovery plan or something similar in place. In today’s world, there are bound to be technological or natural disaster issues that come up. Every business should have a plan.  Your provider should have a recovery policy or be willing to create a customizable plan with your firm. Obviously, if there is no backup, no contingency plan in place, and if they’re not willing to work on a plan, they’re not the right firm and it’s time to keep searching.   Which Services Are Covered Under the Contract and Can You Define Which Services Aren’t? Don’t be afraid to get specific on this. Ensure that you have a direct list of which services they offer compared to which are off the table. Specify exactly what you require from a provider and have their pricing policy laid out clearly. You don’t want hidden fees or surprise charges blindsiding you down the road. You also need to know what the pricing plan is and whether they have limits on certain services. As an example, if you’re limited to a certain number of hours per week with your account manager, you’re going to want to know!   How Will You Keep Us in the Loop? You’ll want to know how their reporting system works and how they’ll keep you in the loop. Find out how transparent the system is and what their standard practices are. For example, you should have answer to the follow questions about communication and processes: Update Meetings: How many meetings are there per month and how are they delivered (for example, in person, on the phone, or via video chat)? Reporting: What type of reporting is included in the service and how often are reports are provided? Troubleshooting and Support: How are these factors handled? Ensure that an agreement is laid out so that expectations are set. Admin Reporting: It’s quite often that business solution providers offer admin portals to provide a high-level reporting tool and snapshots of activities.   What Happens When You’re Updating or Doing Maintenance?  This is a good question. You need to know how often they update or undertake maintenance on software. This is crucial as it can result in actual downtime for your business. On one hand, a lack of attention to infrastructure can be a warning sign. On the other hand, you need to know if updates will affect your operational productivity. Simply inquire what their policy is, timelines on maintenance, and how you will be alerted. Confirm whether there is an easy means of communication with your provider.     How Do You Handle Troubleshooting? It is important to understand how your questions are received and responded to. Are there representatives available every day of […]

Read More… from 10 Questions to Ask Your Business Process Solutions Provider

Are you looking to automate aspects of your business? Development platforms such as Quickbase are known as low code software and are perfect for companies who want to create online business process apps. In fact, you can tackle almost any type of digital business requirements such as:     In fact, low-code development platforms are probably the best bang-for-your-buck investment if your company needs to develop custom business process improvements or applications.  Creating workflows can eliminate the grind out of tedious or ineffective manual labor, saving your company time while boosting efficiency. Because of the vast array of benefits, many businesses jump headfirst into implementation without thinking about the many caveats involved in transferring your manual processes to automation software. As Quickbase consultants with an expertise in business process improvement, we at Trinity have seen repeated mistakes that occur with implementation and what challenges caused them.  Like anything in life worth having, you have to plan for success. Let’s examine issues that may arise and how you can avoid them.   The Challenges of Adopting Business Process Software There can be some big pitfalls when it comes to switching to a new business process software like Quickbase without the help of a consultant. Some of the common issues that come up while making the switch solo include the following:   Failing to Define Your Current Process The only way to see where your process needs fixing is to know what it is to begin with. We see many, many businesses say they need software to improve their processes but can’t pinpoint where or how their current system is flawed. Jumping into the software without knowing exactly where you need it most can lead to spending much more on features you don’t need.   Ambiguous Team Roles It’s important to know who will be doing what in terms of finding and implementing the new software. Not defining what each team member roles do can lead to miscommunication and significant implementation delays. Make sure you know exactly who is involved in decision making, roles on the project, timelines, and so on. Outline whether there will be external contractors and specific areas on outsourcing versus in-house management.    Adaption Overload Ever heard the saying “don’t bite off more than you can chew”? This absolutely applies to implementing business process improvement solutions. Automating complex business processes can be difficult when you want to adapt everything at once. It’s easy to take on a project too quickly, especially if your workflow software is ready to be used. Instead, separate implementation into multiple stages. For example, start with a single workflow for your automation process. Once it’s been tested, move on from there, process by process.     Success Now vs. Future Success It’s important to plan for future success, but when it comes to business process change it’s important to clearly define what you need for success now and what you can implement in the future. Failing to do so will not only create an adaption overload in the point above but can also easily cause project scope creep. This also allows developers to create the baseline application structure to be ready to accommodate for the known future needs.     Not Setting Defined Goals  We’ve seen many clients fail to define specific goals aside from the general ‘automate our workflows.’ If you’re designing a new workflow, create clear goals that have a measurable timeline. It can be useful to hire an outside developer with extensive business process background who can steadily guide your business process improvement and application development. If not, ensure that you define the steps of the entire process in a quantifiable, sequential order.   Focusing More on Cost Than Functionality Another famous saying is “you get what you pay for”. This extremely relevant with choosing not only the solution you will use, but also who will build it out. Even if you choose an solution that is considered ‘low-code software’, you need to know if it’s powerful enough for your goals and if you have the in-house staff that can manage it. If there’s a large learning curve, you’ll need to get some outside help or choose another solution that can be handled in-house. Often businesses will choose a less than optimal product or low-cost developer based solely on pricing. Defining what is a need vs. a want for your automation software will help you create a more realistic budget and set you up for success.   On-Going Monitoring  Far too many companies successfully migrate to a more efficient workflows only to forget about it. Make sure that your solution allows you to monitor your metrics to determine ROI and error rates. Are there any new pain points or issues that arise after the software has been implemented? Assign an in-house project manager or utilize your developer to monitor the program moving forward.   Not Enlisting the Experts You’d be surprised at how fast and affordable outsourcing business process improvements and application development can be. Deploying external experts for a limited amount of time can surprisingly increase your efficiency, service, and output quality. It’s invaluable to have assured ease of implementation and reliable support throughout these processes. At Trinity, our experts have seen it all when it comes to business process change and software implementation and know the tricks to avoid pitfalls. We work side by side with you to determine the exact features you need so you don’t waste money on ones you don’t.   Ready to Start Looking for Software?  One of our favorite activities is providing process change that creates true effectiveness for our clients. Our solutions support business process improvement by helping you increase productivity, service and quality. We take the time to truly understand the needs of your business individually. This helps us to optimize your processes and further growth. We take care of the software so you can focus on your core business with ease of implementation and reliable support throughout the process. There are three […]

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