However, if the users of the applications do not keep step with these new opportunities, these companies will fail to make any headway. Instead, after going through a brief period of frustration, they will simply push the blame for their acceptance and performance problems over to the software manufacturers.
Are they really the ones behind the widespread dissatisfaction with the software solution that was purchased – sometimes at a considerable expense – in order to finally solve the structural problems?
Analogies taken from the field of astronomy illustrate that there are several crucial factors to be considered in order to make a wise choice when purchasing and implementing business software.
The great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn
At the end of December 2020, we were able to observe the “great conjunction” of the two planets, Jupiter, and Saturn, in the night sky. At least when viewed from the Earth, they appeared to be getting closer and closer, almost merging together. A constellation that only occurs around every 20 years.
Some companies set out to buy new software, for example for their quality control, quality assurance or process management sections, in a similarly seldom manner. Such projects are too costly and time-consuming.
The “great conjunction” in this case is when software manufacturers claim to have understood and solved all of their customers’ problems in their latest creation: Greater flexibility and ease of usage coupled with maximum functionality.
However, if we shift positions, we will discover that Jupiter and Saturn are at a distance of some 750 million kilometers, despite their apparent proximity. Sometimes, the gap between the value proposition and the experience made when using the software is also huge:
Customers …
The bottom line is that we need to be more honest. We need to be honest with ourselves – and also need our suppliers and contractual partners to be honest in view of what is actually possible and realistic. If we achieve this, then we will simultaneously achieve the desired conjunction and feel comfortable on the Earth we inhabit without permanently looking around for a new place – one that will not be able to solve our self-made problems either.
What does everything center on?
The way I see it, everything centers on how to solve our customers’ problems and satisfy their needs, instead of creating unnecessary dependencies or offering products that provide no real benefit.
That brings me back to astronomy one final time. Our solar system also orbits around something. Around the center of the Milky Way. To complete one orbit, a so-called “galactic year”, our solar system needs around 225 million years – since our sun was formed around 4.6 billion years ago, almost exactly 20 galactic years have passed.
If we all concerned ourselves more with our companies’ raison d’être, i.e. the creation of customer benefit, however diverse this may be, we would be laying a good foundation for successful cooperative partnerships in the long term.
By astronomical standards, our lives are extremely short. On all accounts, much too short to be annoyed about software for longer periods of time. So, you should try to recognize it for what it is: A great tool which is improving all the time, and which will be able to solve your customers’ problems even better.