As a business executive, it’s important to be aware of the signs that your organisation is suffering from substandard business systems. Here are some key symptoms to look out for. Consider them as a sign your business systems are holding you back:
- Delayed information recording: Your staff is recording information in the system after the fact, and in batches, rather than in real time.
- Siloed systems: Each department has its own separate system, and there’s little integration between them.
- Excessive complexity: Your organisation has too many different software programs for different purposes.
- Lack of a single source of truth: Information is saved in multiple systems, and it’s difficult to determine which one is accurate.
- Information recorded in multiple systems: Staff members are saving new bits of information in physical files, document management systems, emails, and spreadsheets throughout the workflow.
- Lack of standardised processes: Every department and team has its own way of doing things, with little process standardisation.
- Using old software versions: Your organisation is running on outdated software versions.
- Information push and pull constraints: Your system doesn’t allow for seeking approvals via email or SMS, and field staff can’t access information about their current, future, or past jobs on their mobile devices.
- Inadequate training for new staff: The quality of new staff training is left up to their reporting manager.
- Staff devising their own ways: Due to a lack of operational governance, staff members are choosing to find their own ways of working.
- No system owner: Your organisation hasn’t appointed an employee who is accountable for the given information system.
- Report generation requires data massaging and manipulation: It takes time to generate reports due to data manipulation.
- Management has little trust in reporting: They use their own tools for reporting instead.
- New reports are time-consuming: Generating new reports takes time due to the reasons mentioned above.
- Root cause analysis and forecasting seem impossible: Your organisation isn’t mature enough for business intelligence.
- Slow information processing: It takes a long time to process simple information due to convoluted processes.
- Lack of transparency within the organisation: Information is available in silos.
- Too many surprises: The organisation is facing unpleasant surprises due to its inability to report and forecast accurately, and is constantly in a reactive state.
If you notice these symptoms, it may be time to re-evaluate your organisation’s business systems to ensure they’re efficient, integrated, and reliable.
