Software ROI | 3 min read
Want to Know if You’re Getting the Best Software ROI?
Good call. Too often, organizations end up with software they don’t use.
Here’s what you need to know about maximizing the ROI of your software and how to make sure it delivers value.
Read more.
I have witnessed many organizations buying and renewing their licensing agreements from international vendors without ever using them.
This always led me to question why they would continue to do so. What are they winning on the deal and why are they wasting their organization’s money?
That made me think.
Why do we wait so anxiously for Black Friday? Or major discount deals?
Often, we end up spending more money than we originally planned, but we justify it with the excuse of a good bargain.
But is what we’re buying worth it?
It’s the same when organizations buy software they don’t use. Let me explain.
A friend of mine works in a well-known corporation, responsible for the organization’s transformation. He is a key decision maker who authorizes contracts with large suppliers to aid them in their transformation journey.
During the few times I had met with him, he would always boast about how he and his team were able to get discounts from their suppliers.
During one of these meetings, he seemed lost in thought. Out of the blue, he asked me, “Who makes the purchases in your family?”
I wondered what had prompted him to ask this question, but still, I answered, “My wife and I. Why?”
He told me:
“My wife and I are juggling demanding schedules. Due to the limited time we have, and our clashing schedules, we have assigned this task to the house manager.
My concern is that she purchases many items that she thinks we need when, in reality, we have no use of them.
Although she stays within the budget we have set, the items are unnecessary and often, frivolous.
For example, I don’t drink coffee, but I have a 2000-dollar coffee machine at home.
Although she thinks she is doing the best for me by providing me with the best coffee at home, I believe the two thousand dollars could have been put to better use.
What bothers me most about this situation is not the overpriced coffee machine, but rather she answers when I asked her about it.
She told me she had saved me one thousand dollars. I asked her, ‘how?’
She carefully explained to me that the original price of this coffee machine was three thousand dollars, but she managed to bargain with the salesman and convince him to sell it to her for only two thousand dollars.
Since he was clearly upset about this unnecessary spending, I consoled him by telling him, “You’re rich. You will earn enough to cover this unneeded expense”.
My comment drew him out of his deep thought. He explained:
“I am not concerned about money.
What disturbs me is that I realize I’ve wasted our organization’s money in the past.
I have always focused on getting the highest discount possible to save money. I thought the better the discount, the better the deal for the organization. I didn’t look at the bigger picture.
I need to evaluate what I am paying for versus what I am receiving for that price and how necessary it is. After a thorough discussion and analysis, I realized that even with the
concessions I was given, what we are purchasing is not being properly utilized. The items we have purchased are not adequate to complete the tasks we have in our organization.
It seems that I do not have a clear understanding of the value in regards to money. We cannot reverse time, but I hope I can use this lesson going forward and avoid wasting our organization’s money.
The best way to accomplish this would be through understanding the value and quality we are getting for the price we are paying; in short, “get our money’s worth.”
I agree with my friend.
The discount doesn’t matter.
Yes, you might save money. But in the end, you’re losing more if you buy a product or service that you never use
When you look at your software ROI, there’s ONE thing you need to look at: The value it brings.
So:
Is it performing a job at your company?
And is that job contributing to your company’s success?
At stemeXe, we ensure that our software is executing a specific job for our customers. We charge our customers based on the value they get for our software executing that job. This means:
A guaranteed software ROI.
You never waste money on software that doesn’t bring in more than it takes.
Now you know how software ROI works. You need to GET more than you GIVE.
What’s your best tip for making sure you get a great ROI on the software you buy?
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Originally published Mar 4, 2019 10:29:43 AM, updated July 15, 2019
Topics: Software ROI
3 min read
Enterprise technology is a booming industry. Companies are developing software and portals that meet the needs of their customers and solves their problems.
But the enterprise tech faces many issues that are threatening the success of new software.
Digital transformation calls for significant shifts in business models and corporate culture, and portals play an important role in guiding audiences through that.
Portals have evolved over the past 10 years, but they have always been defined by one core priority: delivering a personalised experience that filters out the noise and offers only what is relevant to the end-user.
With the increasing emphasis on customer experience, portals remain a key part of any digital transformation strategy.
Integrating applications is a challenge that businesses often face. Sometimes newer technologies do not integrate well with out of date systems. These newer systems also prove to be an issue, as they act in isolation and are not able to be integrated.
Due to this, operational and employee efficiency can take a huge hit.
This is why it is important to check whether your existing systems can integrate with new technologies seamlessly. For example - your invoicing system should be compatible with your accounting tool, and your accounting tool should work with your CRM, which should work with your marketing tools, and so on.
Data privacy and protection have been one of the major issues for enterprises in the past few years.
Even though there was a huge hype for GDPR for several months leading to its enforcement, only a few businesses managed to achieve full compliance thus far.
A survey by Talend found that most of the surveyed companies (around 70%) failed to comply with Article 15 and Article 20 of the GDPR, meaning that they are unable to provide a copy of users’ personal data on request within the allotted one-month time limit.
With smartphones being the ubiquitous device for most people, it’s no surprise that businesses have embraced smartphones with full gusto.
While the benefits of going mobile friendly are tangible and irreplaceable, the addition of mobility has posed new challenges which must be dealt with quickly and effectively.
This is essential for technology- and user based businesses so they may deliver a seamless and fully functional mobile experience.
The need for a good User Interface/User Experience is now growing in importance. In the past, companies could get away with having a poor UI/UX for their portals.
Today, Function over Form simply doesn't suffice.
It’s absolutely essential for companies to find that exact balance between looks and features and create products that meet requirements – both functionally and from a UI perspective.
In the past, enterprise portals didn’t always have the best UI/UX. Processes and products are complicated for large corporations, and thus the software they use become cumbersome.
As technology advances, businesses are putting more emphasis on UX, but getting it right is still a challenge. The problem is finding a delicate balance between the function of enterprise tech and how it interacts with users.
New technology, especially in the form of connected devices, is growing and influencing the expectations of users for digital experiences.
How might the growth of these devices impact the content within your portal?
Employee portals may need to include data analytics drawn from industrial sensors in factories.
Customer portals might need to be viewable on smartwatches or other wearables. Chatbots and voice may be able to replace traditional search, but require more natural content and possibly AI software to execute.
Enterprises need to view new technology and devices as part of a unified, omnichannel strategy to get the most of out of their technology investments and leverage data across the organisation.
The software needs to be complicated enough to effectively solve problems, but simple enough for end-users to use easily.
Want to learn more about four types of portals that solve enterprise problems?
In this e-book, you will learn:
