What's an enterprise software strategy and how does it save your money?

IT STRATEGY COST EFFICIENCY

What's an Enterprise Software Strategy, and How Does It Save Your Money?

IT STRATEGY COST EFFICIENCY

What's an Enterprise Software Strategy, and How Does It Save Your Money?

12 min read

Enterprise software strategy overlaps with IT strategy and overall corporate strategy and plays an important role in improving efficiency, maximizing ROI, and navigating technological advances. Join us as we uncover critical insights for CEOs and business owners. Knowledge of these insights will enable you to make strategic decisions that promote progressive and harmonious growth for your company.

Table of Contents

Where to start?

Analyzing generation leaps

Quantitative leap: dramatic shifts in software usage
Qualitative leap: positive transformations and hidden challenges
Combined leap type

Life cycle patterns in corporate software evolution

Pattern #1: quantitative leap N times.
Pattern #2: quantitative leap N times - qualitative.
Pattern #3: quantitative leap - qualitative leap.
Pattern #4: quantitative leap - qualitative - qualitative.
The most effective patterns

Conclusion

Where to Start?

Our journey begins by recognizing that companies, often after multiple growth phases, grapple with a substantial array of software. Designed for local tasks, these elements are frequently isolated or loosely connected, leading us to question why businesses discover their daily-use systems, portals, programs, and applications have become so numerous.

Moving beyond providing a ready-made list of reasons, we focus on comprehending the practical aspects of how this proliferation occurs. To grasp the details of your enterprise software array, we recommend a sequential approach— the methodology employed in our business analysis projects:

Develop a lifecycle for the company's digital resources:
- Identify generation spikes, marking significant changes in the software fleet.
- Determine whether each leap is quantitative, qualitative, or a combination.
Clarify the reasons behind each leap.
Model a branch of development with a different type of leap.

Analyzing Generation Leaps

In the software development journey, companies undergo generation leaps, whether quantitative or qualitative.

Quantitative leap: dramatic shifts in software usage

A quantitative leap means a significant shift in the software utilized, increase or decrease. Typically, such shifts arise from the incorporation of new business processes. Social factors like introducing a new specialist can also spark automation, software revisions, or updates, leading to a quantitative leap.

Quantitative leaps are invariably costly, and the benefits for the company are often intricate and contentious. They encompass purchases, development, implementation, training, and business process reorganization, adding to the strain on staff and the company's budget.

Furthermore, a quantitative leap results in process disruptions, but it also lays the groundwork for the subsequent qualitative leap.

The resources needed to facilitate a qualitative leap are generated as a response to coping with the aftermath of a substantial change in the company's software volume.

Qualitative leap: positive transformations and hidden challenges

A qualitative leap signifies a positive transformation in a company's business processes, enhancing overall efficiency. It evolves as a consequence of one or more preceding quantitative leaps. However, the positivity of a qualitative leap is nuanced; hidden negative aspects may surface after some time.

These negative aspects can be diverse. For instance, a qualitative leap might necessitate higher personnel qualifications. Consider a scenario where you previously managed finances manually in Excel but transitioned to automation. While this accelerates processes and minimizes errors, it increases reliance on staff qualifications, demanding training, and a more intricate hiring process—especially if an industry-standard product isn't in place.

Combined leap type

Another noteworthy enterprise software development type is quantitative-qualitative, which is preferable if planned and calculated in advance. Its advantage lies in instant result evaluation. Consider a scenario where everyone in your company counted manually, even though they knew how to work in Excel. Later, they switched to Excel, which accelerated the work dramatically and significantly. This is a real-life illustration.

Life Cycle Patterns in Corporate Software Evolution

Corporate software development follows a sequence of diverse leap types. The perceived development life cycle of "quantitative leap and then qualitative" may seem optimal. However, practical instances might be more intricate. If your software transformation cycle resembles "quantitative, quantitative, quantitative, quantitative, qualitative," it warrants scrutiny. Stop and reflect on your objectives if you've invested four efforts "in the negative" for one "plus."

While other variants exist, these are the most common patterns:

quantitative N times

quantitative - quantitative - qualitative

quantitative N times - qualitative

combined

quantitative - qualitative

quantitative - combined

quantitative - qualitative - qualitative

quantitative - combined - combined

While other variants exist, these are the most common patterns:

quantitative N times

quantitative - quantitative - qualitative

quantitative N times - qualitative

combined

quantitative - qualitative

quantitative - combined

quantitative - qualitative - qualitative

quantitative - combined - combined

Let's progress to a life cycle analysis to comprehend the reasons behind software fleet expansion in a company.

1

Quantitative Leap N Times

This life cycle is a continuous process of introducing new elements and revising the old— the MOST COMMON MODEL. It lacks goal setting and a tactical approach to company development. The initiator—whether the owner or C-executives—raises questions about the general business development paradigm, warranting in-depth analysis. If an IT manager instigates endless quantitative leaps despite being an excellent line performer, they are misplaced as a manager. If these processes stem from business requirements or changing external conditions, refer to the paragraphs above.

2

Quantitative Leap N Times - Qualitative

This pattern is neutral-positive but requires careful analysis due to its potential hazards. Based on experience, it is viable if the iterations of quantitative leaps are limited to three. Attempting a meaningful qualitative leap after four to seven quantitative leaps increases costs and risks excessively. Avoid such situations.

3

Quantitative Leap - Qualitative Leap

At first glance, this pattern seems ideal, but experience and statistics reveal its shortcomings. In most cases, the qualitative leap is insignificant, with the cost of realization often exceeding the results obtained. It may be an investment in the company's brand image, depending on various parallel tasks. More often than not, it results from tactical measures to address immediate issues.

4

Quantitative Leap - Qualitative - Qualitative

This pattern might seem appropriate, but it indicates strategic miscalculation. Be prepared for an impending tipping point in development. It's not catastrophic, but readiness is essential. A separate post will delve into the risks associated with this development model.

The Most Effective Patterns

Now, let's explore the two most intriguing patterns - "quantitative - quantitative - qualitative" and "quantitative – combined."

Both patterns are highly effective and involve related business chains.

With each qualitative leap, you establish the foundation for developing adjacent business processes, infusing vitality into neighboring branches of your process tree.

Importantly, these models are fully controllable, avoiding the potential pitfalls of simultaneous development in many branches, preventing uncontrolled growth, resource overload, and conditional "DDOS" attacks on your resources and staff from internal information flows. They establish the groundwork for progressive, harmonious business growth.

Strive for these patterns, strategically design them, and resist the temptation to solve all problems simultaneously.

Conclusion

As a concluding thought, envision a new specialist entering your company and suggesting, "All this is bad and wrong; let's rewrite/buy new/throw out the old, and everything will work." Acknowledge that abandoning some software constitutes a quantitative leap, irrespective of whether the software has increased or decreased. Consider the pattern that such a suggestion aligns with and its fit within the discussed groups.

By analyzing patterns and seeking strategic designs, businesses can navigate the evolutionary trail of enterprise software, fostering progressive, harmonious growth in their digital endeavors.

Having covered these patterns, analyze your situation's advantages and disadvantages, root causes, and potential short-term and long-term outcomes. Contact us alternatively to collaborate on finding solutions.

Having covered these patterns, analyze your situation's advantages and disadvantages, root causes, and potential short-term and long-term outcomes.
Contact us alternatively to collaborate on finding solutions.