Five reasons not to use just any planning software
There is a wide range of different planning software. Each one promises to relieve you as much as possible of the burden of planning your resources. However, many of these generic tools do not fit in well with specific business processes, with the risk that the planning becomes more complex and you end up with the opposite result. Tailor-made software is the right solution for this. Read about five advantages of customised planning software here.
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Focus on core tasks
Each generic tool has a specific focus on a particular aspect of resource planning. For example, one is more suitable for project management and another keeps track of capacity. This means that when choosing a planning software, you have to decide where the focus will be and then serve the other aspects less well.
Determine the workflow and not the other way around
You probably already have a streamlined workflow set up to create your company's schedule. Often this has evolved organically through the confluence of processes and specific stakeholder roles. A digital solution should make this workflow optimise and support. Yet available planning tools force you to redirect the approach to the workflow that works best with the software's format.
Transcend the industry
Many planning tools provide a form of customisation by specialising in a specific industry and is equipped with functionalities to match. This is not always beneficial. In many cases, your business goes beyond your industry. You probably have other operations or additional services. There should also be an option to include these other functions. For example, think about scheduling a special training or education programme or offering new services.
Expand automation
The biggest advantage of developing the software yourself is that you can decide how you want to extend it. A planning tool is a great starting point for a digital transformation of the company or perhaps even hyperautomation. With the automatic processes and all the digitally managed data it is easy to link to an automatic payroll or invoicing system, for example. Or consider linking to an online product database, for example.
Stay scalable and flexible
Proprietary custom software also offers a lot of control over the set-up of the IT infrastructure. By keeping it independent, you are always in control of the scalability of the servers. So you never pay too much at times of low usage and are not faced with surprises if the software is suddenly used a lot. IT remains flexible and cost-efficient.
Should standard solutions not work for you, it is therefore advisable to explore what customised software can do for your business. To do that, we at SevenLab have organised a multi-day Discovery Workshop equipped to effectively explore where software opportunities lie.
