OPINION
Selecting the right business IT strategy, not just the next system Mark Fermor outlines fours principles that should underpin your systems strategy.
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he cleaning industry has its fair share of challenges. As if managing a large workforce is not hard enough, cleaning companies have also been laboured with a complex set of information system requirements, just to make life fun. To limit the mention of further complexities, this article will stay COVID-19 free. I’ve worked within the cleaning sector since 2009 and have seen the explosion of new technologies available in the market. During this time, I’ve realised some business owners make technology purchasing decisions not based on a strategic plan, but more on emotionally driven short-term wins. There are two common themes which can be summed up in these familiar sentences: • “This new app will help us win more contracts.” • “The competition is using it so we have to catch up.” There are more, but these two emotionally driven thoughts dominate the selection motivators for many companies today. This article aims to introduce principles that should underpin all your systems strategy.
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START WITH A FULLY INTEGRATED END IN MIND
To ensure your business does not end up with a commingled mess of systems, you should have a clearly defined strategy in place from day one, whereby the end goal is an integrated platform. Your business broadly has three core areas: payroll, finance and operations. 54 INCLEAN May / June 2020
Define what functions these areas require and design the end solution before you buy any system. Consider that your business shares common records between these areas and eliminate the need for duplication. The end-goal should be an integrated system (or systems) that clearly define where the “master” of record lives. Let’s use a simple example by examining your most common record – the site. It’s shared across payroll, finance and operations. In your finance system this might take the shape of a project, job or gl extension. This is required so you can run financial reports and know your site profitability. In payroll, your site might take the form of a job/cost centre, so staff hours can be separated out for reporting purposes. Operations would then need a quality audit system, which also contains sites, to allow the reporting of performance. Furthermore, you may have taken the leap to a time & attendance system that again requires sites for staff to clock into. If there is no strategy in place to deal with the management of this common record, your business will be spending administrative time maintaining it in at least four places. Having a fully integrated solution is the foundation of administrative savings in any business.
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DON’T LET DEPARTMENTS BUY SYSTEMS IN ISOLATION
It might seem an obvious statement, but it’s so regularly ignored. In my experience more than 50 per cent of system selections are isolated to a single department.