Are you trying to keep track of your customer data, invoicing, accounting, pricing, order tracking, supplier data, marketing and communications all at the same time whilst utilising different systems?

You won’t be the first business to use multiple platforms. But whilst sticking with the devil you know can seem like a hassle-free option, it’s not always the most effective. Ultimately, if you’re using disparate systems to manage the numerous processes needed to make your business run, you could be throwing away your company’s money—and your team’s time.

Here are 7 reasons why disjointed and inflexible systems cost you more.

1. Duplication

The issue of having duplicated data may not be high on your agenda when you’re busy with the daily challenges of running a business. However, duplicate data will cost your company in so many ways, including business operations, poor customer service, missed sales opportunities and multi-channel marketing. For example, when you have duplicate records of the same person, it’s difficult to predict your customer behaviour accurately to identify sales opportunities. In addition, with each customer interaction being tracked against different systems, it becomes difficult to know which kind of communication has taken place. Not having the correct information on your customers and how often they have received the same communication or promotion can result in a fragmented customer experience.

2. Communication

When using disparate systems, businesses will find that most of their employees end up using alternative methods and processes to record information and data. With inflexible systems that don’t talk to one another, this will cause less visibility across departments, misunderstandings of current customer dealings and altogether disjointed and duplicated communications. With poor system integration, money is spent synchronising these systems, and as a result, you’ll find time is being spent on manual administration when it could be used to focus on the business.

3. Incomplete and Inaccurate Dashboards

Does your company have the right information to make meaningful business decisions? Your business needs the tools to automatically gather and present data without waiting for your team to build reports in Excel. So many businesses today operate with real-time data and having a mix of systems can leave information holes in management dashboards and reports. Also, by the time a report is created manually, that information could be outdated

4. Data Inaccuracy

Disjointed systems often contain overlapping databases, making it hard to get an accurate, integrated view of business performance and operations. It’s crucial for any business to quickly generate accurate reports across all departments, from finance to fulfilment. Without accurate data, it’s almost impossible to make informed decisions. When dealing with different systems, companies either make slow decisions based on inaccurate data or make risky, hasty decisions based on gut instinct.

5. Increased Security Risks

Storing data in a number of different systems doesn’t just hide its value from various other departments. It also increases your risk of security breaches. With less control and more storage locations, the odds of a breach can increase.

6. Time and Resource

Having numerous systems requires seamless integration and constant upgrades. Furthermore, every time a new version is introduced, your team will need additional support to ensure the latest version integrates with other applications in the business. With all this extra work, time spent on continual upgrades and maintenance could be spent on making the business more productive.

7. Inefficiency

Inefficiency in operations and business administration can cost you money, waste time, diminish the quality of your work and prevent you from focusing on the more strategic decisions that drive your business. Unfortunately, no business is immune from inefficiencies. Still, every business should assess its processes to identify how to improve and reduce the inefficiency gap. 

Reduce your costs with a single fully integrated system

Office Power dealers run their businesses seamlessly using a single platform for every part of their business, alongside flexible and configurable service packages. Get in touch today to discover how much your business could save by moving to a single, seamless and fully integrated system.