Everywhere you look, you see the poor results of companies using software that isn’t custom-fit for their needs and wants. IBM is being sued by the Queensland Health IT government for botching its health sector’s payroll; a US school district rolls out iPads to students without getting the proper software and the kids were using them to access illegal files within moments; a Small Business Owner struggling to maintain spreadsheets as they try to manage cash, customers, and profit. Custom software and good planning can solve these problems for you.
For example, if you’re married, think about the day you, or you and your significant other went to pick out an engagement ring. No doubt, you had done all your research and you know what cut, clarity, color, you had it to have.
What would have happened if your jeweler had handed you tray full of pre-made rings, and told you that they were “sort of” like what you wanted and possessed “most” of the qualities you were after.
Surely, you wouldn’t accept anything less than the best to give to the person you plan to spend the rest of your life with, right? So why are you trusting the needs of your business, to a canned software product that meets only 80% of your needs, instead of custom designing a system for your business’s specific needs?
Whenever I talk to clients and tell them about building your own software, or having someone like Fishbowl Inventory do provide ready-made software, there seems to be an inherent fear of the unknown, to which I reply, it’s not as scary as you think!
Custom software projects are smart, fast, and really attainable. Our goal every time out is turn a problem into a real business competitive advantage. We believe in keeping it simple, and that people are the best problem-solvers in the world, so we use you to help us figure out what the solution is.
I have a client whose business delivers products off a truck, and has a commitment that any order will be delivered the next morning. They were using software that was great with order placing and accounting, but what was lacking was a way to route where the trucks should go each day to make the deliveries as efficiently as possible.
What it really boiled down to was finding a simple way to order the shipments the way they wanted, then print them the way they wanted, so all the shipping came out in a stack of delivery slips that could then be dispersed among the drivers.
We started this as a 6-hour project and had it scheduled and delivered in a week. And the best part of it was exactly what the client wanted. Now they can have their delivery aspect of the business, but the whole software is really geared towards them. And that’s what Israel Lopez Consulting strives for. We love making great software that helps businesses do their business better.
We’d love to hear from you and your ideas. Please give us a shout.
