Knowledge Centre |
Straight Talk Article
CEO of ComActivity Australia
Turning Difficult Times Into an Opportunity
Dec, 12th 2008
Few people have experienced such turmoil in the world as in recent times. It makes people nervous and the dark messages in the media mean that companies are pulling back on as many expenses and investments they can, hoping to maximise their existing resources. The businesses that prosper through these times will be those who think “smart” and “lean”. They will find innovative ways to use IT to leverage the power of their existing IT systems. ComActivity is perfectly placed for this challenging environment – our solutions are designed to help businesses get the best from existing ERP systems.
The solutions we offer are all about process improvement, productivity improvements, increased control and governance. More than ever organisations need to stay highly competitive. To endure and prosper in this competitive time is demanding, to say the least. Yet smart companies are not only surviving, they are pulling ahead by rigorously focusing on sustainable competitive advantages. They innovate aggressively, and they master operational efficiency. Those businesses that fail to follow this approach will lag behind, get consumed by larger companies for market share, or simply vanish.
ComActivity understands that fast ROI is absolutely essential – we commit to our customers that any projects we deliver should have a payback time of less than 12 months with improved functionality far sooner.
There will be a few qualities in common to those people who will successfully leverage IT to harness the power of their existing business systems:
Strive for excellence
With a commitment to finding the best solutions – these are the people who understand that in order to stay competitive they need to try to seek excellence. They might wake up in the middle of the night thinking about a particular business process issue. They know that action is needed and that processes must be performed with maximum efficiency.
Embrace change
The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different and if we want to stay in business in the future we need to change. Or as someone once said “Resisting change is like holding your breath - you may succeed, but eventually you will die ”. It is a mistake to think that if you do sufficient up-front research and invest enough, once a new ERP system is installed it will never need to be touched again. Business needs the ability to make changes in response to a fluctuating environment.
Encourage innovation
Since modifications to ERP systems can be risky, difficult and expensive. The key for the future will be managing out this complexity, and encouraging innovation. Worryingly, in recent years, spending on maintenance costs of ERP systems has been at nearly 90% - with only a fraction of the budget left to spend on innovation which will deliver true business value. The point of IT should be to enable workers to be more productive. Decision makers will need to move towards innovation and away from complexity.
At ComActivity, we believe that the current economic times are an opportunity to thrive – it will force business to cut the waste, and really think about the most effective use of their spend. Companies who drop the old habits and spending habits will be the ones to not only survive this period of uncertainty but emerge truly prosperous.
