Simplifying the Complex : Building Useful Applications on Enterprise Platforms
Technology advances rapidly, but systems age quickly…
Many major enterprise systems were developed decades ago and are really showing their age. Features are bolted on and changes are introduced year after year. As product designers and engineers move on, the user experience of these systems begins to degrade - design consistency suffers, bugs and quirks are introduced, and contradictions emerge. The onus is placed upon the end user to learn or invent workarounds and hacks, when all they really want to do is get their job done. Often, these challenges become so unmanageable that users begin to abandon the tools originally meant to help them in favor of their own manual processes. Worse yet, they implement new, unsanctioned tools with their own individual costs (this common practice exposes organizations to major data security risks - but this is a topic for another article). Slowly but surely, the enterprise system’s value to the end user decreases, individual efficiency plummets and organizational costs soar.
Inventive solutions breathe new life into the enterprise…
Let’s face it… no one is getting rid of a system that runs their entire business (and costs a not-so-small fortune to implement) just because it’s difficult to use. The efficiencies and organizational worth that the system provides in other areas are likely invaluable. But there is a way to leverage the strengths of the system by building useful, friendly, and modern applications “on top” of the enterprise that address end-user challenges and even offer new features that can encourage system adoption and attract new types of users.
An MCG Strategic client recently implemented a new enterprise system that provides powerful capabilities that the company lacked for so long. But there are issues. Accessing data can be a multistep, time-intensive process - and these people need to move fast! Plus, the sales team and customers expect access to inventory counts and order statuses. But, it became clear that this was a major problem since every single user of the system required a significant recurring monthly licensing fee. This cost would amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, and increase for each and every new customer.
MCG Strategic solved these challenges by designing a modern, intuitive web-based companion application that interfaced with the enterprise system. Using the system’s API (application programming interface), MCG quickly built a solution that gave the sales team and their customers (over 400 individuals) access to real-time inventory, sales order data, and shipment tracking in an easy-to-read format without incurring any additional licensing costs – MASSIVE SAVINGS! The application proved so useful that the internal customer service team began using it—in lieu of the native system—to access important information and to provide quicker customer service responses. Now that customers and salespeople are “self-serve,” the client has experienced an immediate reduction in emails and calls to the CSR team, improving efficiency across the department.
The simplest solution is often the best solution…
Enterprise systems do a lot, so by nature, they are complex. However, most users only access a small portion of features in their day-to-day activities. If the system makes their job less efficient, this will lead to a myriad of organizational issues - higher employee turnover, increased costs for training, unsanctioned expenditures, and data security risks, to name only a few. Address these issues by implementing useful, intuitive applications designed for specific audiences.
Any organization's success depends on the success of its people. Giving them the right tools will improve their quality of work life and put your organization on a better path towards efficiency and growth.
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If your organization struggles with these issues, drop me a message and let’s see how we can help.
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