Making mistakes is part of life and business and can often lead us to make better decisions and smarter moves in the future. But some mistakes are costly, frustrating, and better off avoided – like those that often happen during ERP optimisation. 

ERP benefits are well known and often well worth the effort and cost of implementation and optimisation. But it’s a sizeable job and a serious investment. Make a mistake during these phases, and you could very well quickly end up back where you started – with a system that doesn’t support your business. And you will have paid a pretty penny for the experience. 

Previously, we’ve spoken about how important the software optimisation process is. It’s the implementation, more than the software itself, that really defines the functionality outcomes you’ll achieve.  

Your JIWA software is meant to make business more efficient, not less. And while there are mistakes that can be easily made during optimisation, they can also easily be avoided with the right know-how. With the right approach and knowledge, it’s possible to ensure your software upgrades are effective, timely and no more expensive than necessary.  

3 common software optimisation mistakes 

No one goes into software optimisation with a lukewarm attitude and mindset. Businesses expect great outcomes from their investment and want to enjoy the benefits they‘ve seen their peers and competitors achieve.  

However, there are three mistakes made again and again during optimisation that restrict businesses from truly benefiting from their software in the long run. 

Not allowing enough time 

It’s not uncommon for businesses to want to get their software running at peak functionality as quickly as possible.  While optimisation doesn’t need to take a long time, many business owners and leaders significantly underestimate the time commitment required to make it happen. Simply focusing on the day-to-day work and believing they’ll “find time later” leads to the implementation being continuously delayed. Just like implementation, optimisation requires an understanding of how to make the software functionality work for the individual business. And if the initial implementation process wasn’t up to scratch, optimisation can take a lot more work.  

Thinking the tech will work magically out of the box 

The benefits of JIWA don’t come for free. For businesses to truly achieve the automation and efficiency they’re looking for and make the most of particular functions the software can offer, they have to learn and understand how it all works.  

For example, they might want to optimise their software to include a pay now option on invoices, which is a wonderful cash flow improvement technology. But to make the function work in JIWA, they need to understand how it all works in the background.  

Not optimising for individual business  

Efficiency looks different for every business and every business process. Not understanding how that process should or could work in an individual business case will lead to missed opportunities and not using the software to the best of its abilities. Simply automating a process doesn‘t guarantee the desired outcome – not through any fault of the software, but because the business process hasn’t been reviewed, understood or optimised for JIWA.  

Look before you leap 

These mistakes generally stem from a lack of knowledge around the software and how it works with each business process. The more you know about something and the best way to do it, the better the outcome and the lower the risk of costly mistakes. 

Simply, knowledge is power. Software is not a magic pill to transform business efficiency – it needs to be driven by someone and taught how to perform correctly for each business. 

But not all business leaders are also software experts. Before choosing to implement or optimise software, ensure you ask yourself: 

  • Do you have the knowledge you need? 
  • Do you have the skills and resources to gain it? 
  • Do you have the time to commit to learning it? 

Often, it all comes back to the number one problem facing smaller business executives: the lack of time. If we all had enough to sit down and seriously consider every detail of our business, we’d enjoy a lot more optimal outcomes than what we actually do! 

Ensuring effective optimisation, desired functionality and avoiding the mistakes that will stop you from achieving them requires finding a balance between gaining the right level of knowledge and still having time to run your business.   

External knowledge can save you time and money 

When tax time rolls around, you go to an accountant to do your return because they‘re experts, and they know all the deductions you can get. You‘ll end up with more of a return and less of a headache than if you were to attempt it yourself. The same logic applies to JIWA optimisation.  

The best, easiest and most cost-effective way to achieve an optimal outcome without a major time commitment is to engage an expert JIWA partner. Did you know that AttKey offers specialised auditing and advice services for all our customers? We can look at your current system setup and ensure you have the knowledge and understanding to expand into previously unused areas of JIWA, actively promoting quality outcomes for your business.  You won‘t have to spend the time learning the ins and outs of software optimisation alone, you‘ll gain all the knowledge you need to ensure optimal outcomes and ROI, and you‘ll gain the relevant information that allows you to act and move faster.  

An expert consultant can guide you and explain how operations need to be tweaked and keep you on track. The trick is open and effective communication of what you are trying to achieve. When doing so, always make sure your consultant:   

  • Has the right attitude and aligns their method to your business goals 
  • Demonstrates strong experience in areas where you can augment their experience with your own knowledge and experience (including with your industry, of specific business processes, and technical know-how of things like APIs) 
  • Provides feedback on all key project points you do and do not understand 

Tick off each of these traits, and you can be sure you’re setting yourself up to achieve better outcomes, realistic expectations, and the functionality you need within the desired timeframe. 

At Attkey, we’ve partnered with dozens of Australian small and medium businesses to implement, optimise and provide ongoing support for their JIWA software. You can check out our solutions and support capabilities here.