Most businesses rely on software every single day.

It might be an accounts package, an eCommerce platform, a stock management system or something that was built specifically for the business years ago.

And if it still works, why would you change it?

But what if your software is working - just not working as well as it could?

That’s a question worth asking, particularly if your business has grown.

A system that was perfectly adequate when you had 50 orders a week might look very different when you have 500.

Suddenly, people are spending hours downloading information from one system and putting it into another. Someone is checking orders manually. Someone else is updating stock. Invoices are being recreated.

How much time is your business spending on jobs that could potentially be automated?

That time can be surprisingly expensive.

It isn't just about wages. Every hour an employee spends copying information between systems is an hour they aren't spending on customers, sales or growing the business.

And manual processes bring another problem: mistakes.

A number entered incorrectly. An order missed. Stock levels that aren't up to date. An invoice that doesn't quite match the original order.

These might seem like small problems, but over hundreds or thousands of transactions, they can become expensive.

So does that mean businesses need to throw out their old software and start again?

Not necessarily.

Quite often, the answer is to make the systems you already have talk to each other.

For example, an eCommerce business might have its website on Shopify, its accounts in Xero or FreeAgent, and stock information sitting somewhere else.

Instead of somebody moving that information manually, those systems can potentially be connected so that the information flows automatically.

That can save time, reduce errors and allow the business to grow without simply adding more manual administration.

And this is where it's important not to start with the technology. Start with the problem.

Look around your business.

What are your staff doing repeatedly?

Where are they copying and pasting?

Which processes involve spreadsheets being passed between people?

Where are two systems holding the same information, but neither knows what the other one is doing? And what happens when one staff member goes on holiday - does it all go pear shaped?

Those are often the areas where there is an opportunity to make a real difference.

At Dev Partners in Kent, we work with businesses to look at those problems and build software, integrations and automation around the way the business actually operates.

Upgrading your technology doesn't always mean replacing everything.

Sometimes it's simply about making the technology you already have work harder for you.

Before you go…

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