Abandon App Anxiety: Why You Want (and Can Have) Your Own Software!

Whether your people are collecting customer information on-site, surveying electrical usage, operating machinery on your shop floor, updating your accounting system, or you want to enable customers to enter orders themselves, it’s so much more efficient, so less error-prone, and so much easier to work with your own custom-tailored app than a spreadsheet or a website on a browser, especially on your mobile smartphone. Far more valuable when yours is a small-to-midsized business (SMB).

Where the Cost Savings Come From

Doing more with less has always been a goal for every business. When your people are doing their work using apps designed specifically for your business, this goal becomes reachable! They don’t have to spend time navigating around a one-size-fits-all app. Everything is validated upon entry so you all but eliminate entry errors, saving tremendous re-work time.

You’re also very happy to own and have complete control over your own data. You’re not paying recurring license fees for the use of someone else’s software or renting space on someone else’s servers.

Best of all, you haven’t had to re-adjust your operation to fit the software. Instead, the software is built to conform to your standards and practices. Not only do you own the data, but you also own the entire process.

Abandoning App Anxiety

By now your head may be ringing with all the reasons you think you can’t or don’t want your own custom-designed Web or Mobile App:

• You’re a small company, and only large companies have their own custom software solutions
• You’re not a software developer or any other kind of technology company
• You could never afford to bring in a developer to build your software for you
• You have no idea how you’d begin running your own software even if you had it
• How could you integrate this new software into everything else you already do?
• You have no idea what a custom Web or Mobile App could do for your company
• You really can’t see yourself investing in anything that doesn’t bring a direct return on investment

There are really great answers to each of these concerns and once you’ve read them, your anxiety about App Development will evaporate! Seriously. There are good reasons that businesses of all sizes are implementing their own software for their internal workflow, customers, suppliers, internal employees, and other associates. In this blog series we’ll address each of these concerns and more, but let’s begin with the end of the list.

Your Own Software Brings Robust Return

Accept for the moment that having custom software built for you only requires that you know your own business operations and objectives and that you can readily obtain all the support you need to build and maintain your own software, integrate it into your existing systems, and generate results. The only question remaining is whether or not you can quickly recover the costs involved, start showing a significant profit from your investment almost immediately and continue generating incremental profits for the foreseeable future.

There are really only two basic ways to increase your profits:

• By reducing your operating costs
• By producing new revenues

Reducing Operating Costs

While some of your software may be customer-facing, there will also be many internal processes that having your own software can streamline. Improvements to efficiency, automating as many processes as possible, enabling people to produce more productively, and eliminating waste all reduce your operating costs though they may be difficult to measure.

For example, using automated internal workflow management assures that processes move along swiftly and any delays are caught and handled immediately. Your order entry system carefully assesses each entry of customer or product information to assure accuracy and consistency of data input, with fewer errors, eliminating confusion and duplication. More efficient tools bring high productivity which results in less time wasted. And time, of course, is money.

The cost of sales is also impacted! When your salespeople can obtain product and price information on their app in the middle of an onsite customer meeting, rather than having to first return to the office, they strike while the iron is hot and this closes more sales more immediately. The cost of traveling back and forth repeatedly and the time value of money both contribute more savings.

Producing New Revenues

Think of having your own mobile app acting as a newly hired sales agent who lives with each of your customers. At the instant, they realize they need to make a purchase from you they can simply enter their order on their own smartphone without delay. It gets even better…

If your customer wants to make a purchase but they’re not sure which product or service they want to buy they can instantly reach out to your representative for more information. They don’t have to trust you, either. They can quickly consult reviews and evaluations other customers have left for them. Even if they do have to interface with one of your people, they come to that conversation substantially informed and ready to talk.

Today’s customer expects an extraordinary experience doing business with you. Now you keep them completely up to date on the progress of their orders or projects. You make payment easy and painless. You confirm receipt and check in on your customer’s satisfaction with your product or service. You learn much more, and your customer feels very well taken care of. They best express this with more and more business. Think about a diner visiting your restaurant, perusing a software-based menu to select their entree, dining, and paying for their meal at their table without having to wait for a server to return to them. A seamless, frictionless experience that frees them to focus on enjoying their meal.

Keep This in Mind

Over the next several months we’ll be clarifying the answers to all your questions about owning your own software, starting with the concerns listed above. To let us know YOUR questions, or to discuss what you need from your own custom software, talk to us by calling 949-200-6839 or emailing info@benjamenglover.com.