Is your software the problem, or how you use it?
Most systems that feel broken are under-configured, under-trained or cut off from the systems around them. Here is how I tell that apart from software that genuinely needs replacing, before anyone spends money on a new one.
By Gary Kellett6 min read
For owners and directors of UK firms with 10 to 250 staff who suspect a core system is holding the business back.
When a director tells me their software is the problem, I believe them about the pain. I am less sure about the cause. In many of the small and mid-sized firms I work with, the system they want to replace is doing about half of what it could. It was set up years ago by someone who has since left, and the team has been working around it ever since because nobody had time to learn it properly.
That does not mean the software is never the problem. Sometimes it genuinely is, and replacing it is the right call. But replacing a core system is expensive, slow and disruptive, so it is worth a few hours of honest checking first. This article sets out how I tell the difference.
Why the difference matters
If the software is the problem, the fix is a new system: a selection process, a data migration, training, and months of disruption. If how you use it is the problem, the fix might be a few days of configuration, a cleaned-up process and some training. The two answers are worlds apart in cost and risk. Get the diagnosis wrong and you either pay for a replacement you did not need, or keep paying for a system that will never fit.
There is a third trap too. A new system set up by the same people, in the same rush, around the same unclear process, often ends up with the same problems within a year. The workarounds simply move house.
Signs the problem is how you use it
- The complaints are about particular screens or steps, not about something the system cannot do at all.
- Nobody has had proper training since it was installed, and new starters learn from whoever sits next to them.
- You pay for features nobody has switched on, such as workflow rules, approval steps, templates or reports.
- Different people do the same job in different ways, and the data shows it.
- The supplier's own help pages describe how to do the thing you have been told the system cannot do.
- Most of the pain sits in the spreadsheets around the system, not in the system itself.
Signs the software really is the problem
- The vendor has confirmed in writing that what you need is not supported and is not on their roadmap.
- The product is out of support, or the vendor has announced its end of life.
- You cannot get your data out, or into another system, without manual exports and re-keying.
- It cannot cope with your volumes, sites, currencies or companies, and the vendor's only answer is a tier you cannot justify.
- Every small change needs a paid consultant, and those costs now outweigh the licence.
- It cannot meet a security or compliance need you now have, such as the access controls or audit trail your customers expect.
The middle ground: connect
Some problems are neither the software nor how you use it. They sit in the gap between two systems that do not talk to each other: orders typed from one into another, customer details kept in three places, reconciliations done by hand at month-end. A perfectly sound system can look broken simply because it is isolated. Connecting it is often far cheaper than replacing either side.
How to check in a week
You can get most of the way to an answer yourself. This is the order I would work in.
Step 1: Write down the three biggest complaints
Be specific. 'The CRM is rubbish' is not a complaint. 'We cannot see which quotes are waiting on a customer reply' is.
Step 2: Ask the supplier directly
Send each complaint to your account manager or support desk and ask whether the system can do it, and how. A written answer is useful evidence either way.
Step 3: Watch the work being done
Sit with the person who does the job for an hour. You will usually spot the workaround, the side spreadsheet or the re-keying behind the pain.
Step 4: Check what you are paying for
Compare the licence tier and modules on your invoice with the vendor's feature list. It is common to find a fix already included and switched off.
Step 5: Sort each complaint into a pile
Usage, configuration, connection or genuine limitation. If most land in the first three piles, replacement is probably the wrong answer.
Worked example
A firm wants to replace its job management system because engineers' hours never match the invoices. On inspection, the system has a mobile timesheet feature that was never rolled out, so engineers write hours on paper and an administrator types them in every Friday. Switching the feature on, with an afternoon of training, removes the re-keying and most of the mismatches. The system was fine. The way it was being used was not.
When replacement is right, do it properly
If the checks point to a genuine limitation, replacing the system can be one of the best decisions you make. Do it with a clear requirements list, written from how the work should flow rather than from a vendor's feature list, and get quotes you can compare like for like. Treat the data migration as a project in its own right, because that is where replacements most often go wrong. And fix the process first, so you are not paying to move old habits into a new system.
When it is more than one system
Most growing businesses run ten, twenty or more applications by the time a director starts asking this question. Each one was bought to solve a problem at the time. Some overlap, some are barely used, and a few hold the business together without anyone being quite sure how. The problem in the CRM is often caused by what happens, or does not happen, in the accounts package or the spreadsheet next to it.
So asking whether one system is the problem is a fair start, but the better question is what the whole set should look like. That is what my Systems Health Check answers. I look at every system you run and give each one a verdict: keep, configure better, connect, replace or retire. You also get the licences you pay for and do not use, the gaps where data is re-keyed between systems, and a costed roadmap in a sensible order, for a fixed price and before anyone tries to sell you a replacement.
Questions directors ask
How do I know if my business software needs replacing?
Replacement is usually right when the vendor confirms in writing that a need is not supported, the product is going out of support, you cannot get your data in or out, or the cost of small changes outweighs the licence. If the complaints are about training, unused features or inconsistent use, configure the system and train the team before you replace it.
Why do new systems end up with the same problems as the old ones?
Because the cause was often the process and the set-up rather than the software. If a new system is configured in the same rush, by the same people, around the same unclear process, the workarounds move across with the data. Fixing the process and writing requirements first avoids this.
Is it cheaper to connect systems or replace one?
Connecting is usually cheaper and less risky, because both systems keep running and the team does not need retraining. Replacement makes sense when a system genuinely cannot do the job, not when it is simply cut off from the systems around it.