Our experience over many years and many software projects has been that our clients have a strong sense of what they need and why they need it.
We like to use a medical analogy to illustrate how the software industry has typically worked, why it doesn’t give the right outcomes, and how we’ve changed our approach to ensure we deliver the solutions our clients really need.
Medical scenario – The Specialist
A patient with a sore hip goes to see a specialist in hip replacement surgery, explains his symptoms and says he thinks he needs a hip replacement. The surgeon examines the patient, observes the symptoms the patient describes, and based on his experience, knows that he can help.
Being specialised in hip replacement surgery, with many years of experience and with the best intentions in mind the Surgeon says "I can operate next week, let’s get you booked in".
A few weeks, much expense, a lot of pain later and with a hip that’s still sore from surgery; the patient’s not sure if having the surgery was the right thing to do. They spent a lot of money with an honest Surgeon that has a good reputation and is really good at what he does. They also got exactly what they asked for, so they must have done the right thing, right?
This scenario captures what we believe we and a lot of other "Off the shelf" software providers and their consultants have been doing for their clients. We have extensive experience and very specialised software solutions that allow us to implement one thing very well. When a client approaches us and says they need a solution that sounds like the one we sell, that’s what we sell them.
"When all you have in your toolbox is a hammer everything looks like a nail"
Medical scenario - The GP
A patient with a sore hip goes to see a GP and says they think they might need a hip replacement.
The GP listens carefully to what the patient has to say and then suggests that a hip replacement is a very significant and expensive operation with some risks involved. Before committing to that course of action the GP recommends the patient have some tests to confirm a hip replacement is really needed.
The GP wants to check:
- Does the patient really did need a hip replacement?
- Is there a more suitable, lower risk, less expensive and less invasive procedure that will suit the patient better
- Is the hip pain just a symptom of some other issue that hasn’t been identified yet The GP orders a series of scans so that they can see into the patient’s body and get a better understanding of what is going on.
The GP also orders blood tests so that they can compare the patient’s results to "normal" values in order to see how the patient’s general health is and to try to identify any other reason for the pain.
A few days later the GP explains to the patient that they don’t have a hip problem. In fact, the doctor explains, the hip pain is just a system of bad posture which is the result of an issue with their feet.
Some professionally designed orthotics, a few physio appointments and a few weeks later the patient is pain free and feeling better than they have for years.
This GP scenario is where we believe we need to be in order to provide the best outcomes for our clients. Better diagnostic tools combined with a wider range of solutions are needed to enable consultants in our field to deliver the solutions our clients actually need.
Medical approach to systems development
We believe that in our industry, solution providers (including ourselves) are a lot like the Specialist. We’re very experienced, highly skilled at what we do and have our client’s best interests at heart. Due to a lack of alternatives, we do what our clients ask us to do and we generally do a good job, however often what our clients asked us to do wasn’t what they actually needed.
If we had other tools at our disposal that were the equivalent of scans and blood tests, we could take a more holistic approach to our client’s needs and help them identify the real cause of their issues, and then recommend the solution that best meets their needs.
This is exactly what we set out to achieve with our software:
- We’ve built tools that allow us to see what’s going on inside our client’s business
- We’ve built tools that let us benchmark our client’s vital statistics (KPI’s) and compare them to desired values
- We’ve built off the shelf software that’s also flexible and this means we can service our client’s even if they just need tweaks to their current solution
With these tools at our disposal if a client asks for a solution like an advanced planning and scheduling system (APS). And the client has a laundry list of functions they need it to perform, we listen to what they have to say and then suggest that implementing an APS with a list of features like that would be a significant and expensive undertaking that would be likely to involve a lot of pain and would have some risks associated with it.
Instead of implementing our off the shelf APS software, we now perform more like a GP and use our new diagnostic tools to take a look at what is really happening and then make informed recommendations about how the client should proceed and what the most appropriate solution (chosen from many) is for them.
Importantly these new tools help our clients understand what is really happening in their business. Through this process of discovery, we build a relationship with our clients and provide a better service, more like the GP in Scenario 2.
The diagnostic process is relatively quick and very cost effective. Once we’ve established a good working relationship with our client and they can see for themselves what is really needed, then recommending the right course of action and having it accepted becomes a straight forward process.