Software development critical to optimise business processes

Marc De Villiers

As more businesses shift from the traditional style of a working environment to a more sophisticated, streamlined and tech savvy environment, the importance of business process optimisation cannot be stressed enough.

Every organisation, whether it provides education to students or a whiskey to consumers, relies on repetitive tasks to accomplish its “big picture” goals. Contract management, invoicing, and hiring are just a few examples of processes that keep businesses moving.

The importance of software in business optimisation

The working environment requires technology that can quickly accommodate change in the product and its management. This includes problem reporting, tracking and planning systems, scheduling, and notification systems that can handle fast-paced information and lower your training and maintenance costs.

Photo by Farzad Nazifi on Unsplash

In a highly competitive world, every organisation is looking for software solutions that are not only cost-effective but tailor-made, faultless and bug-free.

Common software development practices

The following common practices are used to keep up with rapidly evolving technologies and markets:

• The use of well-known frameworks to quickly change the product according to market needs
• The use of evolutionary prototyping and experimentations via existing components
• Ongoing customer acceptance through early adopters’ focus groups
• Continuous value delivery, focusing on core functionalities that engage paying customers
• Empowerment of teams to influence final outcomes
• The use of metrics to quickly learn from consumers’ feedback and demand
• The use of easy-to-implement tools to facilitate product development and handle fast-paced, changing information.

Ways software development can grow your business

Increasing inbound sales conversion rates

You may find at one or point or another that your business is failing to convert inbound traffic to sales, despite your marketing team’s best efforts to drive visitors to your website.

Sales and marketing often engage in a tempestuous relationship, despite the importance of the two working together. It is vital to map out your marketing and sales processes in order for measurable targets to be set for the both the marketing and sales departments.

A good way of tracking this to use software that assesses your overall engagement from your audience on all platforms and how you can increase brand awareness.

Increasing team productivity

The number one productivity killer in any work environment would be uncertainty. Employees who are uncertain about their daily or weekly tasks may rely on their emails to prioritise and map their days.

An “all-hands-on-deck” work environment is usually found in a start-up where an employee may find themselves performing two or more roles in the business in order to keep costs down and hopefully drive growth and profit.

Introducing a daily schedule planner that maps out all the major processes and tasks for each employee’s role will mean that the daily and weekly rhythm of work can take place.

Releasing products faster

In any company, and especially a start-up, it is vital that bug fixes and product release schedules are mapped with the relevant software. This ensures products are not only released on time but means that more products are able to be steadily released to keep up with consumer interest.

New features to be mapped out on a platform are usually arranged in a “wish list” completed by the sales and management team. You can even introduce software that implements a scoring mechanism for prioritising bugs, feature releases and defines all decision-making criteria.

Improving revenue collection

When it comes to the revenue in your business, have you agreed on a particular billing cycle? Do you bill monthly, weekly, daily or on an ad-hoc basis?

Introducing software that optimises your credit and collection terms can ensure that your company is bringing in the revenue needed to pay for overheads, operational costs such as employee salaries and equipment costs – at the right time.

Improving staff happiness

The team is the catalyst for development and have the power to make or break your company. Keeping staff happy and satisfied in their jobs does not mean you have to roll out the red carpet, however, making a process easier for them like submitting expenses and holidays can mean that they feel a certain standard and process is kept to ensure fairness.

Implementing the correct process management software not only helps a business save on costs, it has the ability to create agile organisations that drive revenue, increase customer satisfaction and scale for growth.