Great Business Software is F.I.R.M. (Part 4 of 4)
Great Business Software is Malleable!
Ideally, when new software is rolled out in a company, it mirrors the internal business processes and captures all the information necessary to analyze the business and make decisions. However, to remain competitive, businesses must always be tweaking their processes and the information used to analyze the business.
Show me a company that has not evolved significantly in the last five to ten years and I will show you a dying company!
Herein lies the business systems problem. After a series of adjustments to company processes, the software no longer mirrors the business process. The more a company "evolves," the more they must work outside their business system creating performance and information inconsistencies that result from working around the system. This problem is even more pronounced when a company has multiple locations each creating their own coping mechanisms. After a while, they may not even look like they are part of the same company.
Malleable software systems solve this issue.
When a company makes a relatively permanent tweak or process innovation, a malleable software design allows them to tweak their business systems as well so that it continues to mirror the business process. Of course the discipline of Innovation Process Management is not easy, but that is a subject for another time.
How would malleable software have impacted your business over the last five to ten years?
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