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The Proliferation of Complexity
E
nterprise software has failed us! For decades,
vendors and consultants have claimed a savings of
20-30% with the implementation of MRP, CRM,
ERP .. or a plethora of other offerings over the years. Far
too many of these systems fail to realize the benefits that
justified the initiative to begin with. Most companies
embark upon the enterprise software implementation with
big fan fare, company wide town-halls, memos and armed
with an army of consultants. After several months of
implementation and hundreds and thousands of dollars
spent, the majority of the workforce figures out a way to
‘bypass’ the system and its use is relegated to a handful of
poor souls in the back-office departments.
Why does this happen? A study by Sand Hill Group shows
that only 1 percent of potential users of the system, cited the
cause as a lack of software functionality. An overwhelming
70 percent cited usability and complexity as the main
obstacle. Former NYTimes Design Director Khoi Vinh
captured this common frustration in his seminal 2007
article, If It Looks Like a Cow, Swims Like a Dolphin and
Quacks Like a Duck, It Must Be Enterprise Software,
saying: “If you work at a big company and you’ve ever had
to do something that should be simple, like file an expense
report, make changes to your salary withholdings - or,.. if
you’ve ever tried to apply for a job at a big company - then
you’ve probably encountered these confounding user
experiences. And you probably cursed out loud.”
The problem is that enterprise software has to support very
complex tasks, but software companies design it for a
general audience, not for specific users. Since it has to work
for a variety of companies, it’s designed as a one-size-fits-
all solution that doesn’t actually fit anyone well.
quality experience, but with many existing customers, it’s
difficult for enterprise software companies to do a complete
redesign. And with little competition, customers don’t have
much choice.
There is also a darker, ulterior motive behind this mess.
Having many features allows enterprise software sales
professionals to engage in a conversation that allows for
incremental increases over time. Often enterprise software
is tiered in a variety of ways in order to extract maximum
revenue.
Because it’s so challenging to fix problems with enterprise
software, companies find that it’s easier to change their
work processes. Through training and documentation, they
try to alter their employees’ behavior to fit the flaws in the
software. This is wrong and it needs to end.
Enterprise software used to be about making existing work
more efficient. Today, the opportunity for software is to
transform the work itself. Here at TiZE we are passionate
about this goal. We are embarking on this journey with our
industry specific solution for the speciality chemicals
industry based on an entirely new approach to software.
The approach based on providing the simplest fit and
function, combined with ease of use. As Bessemer Venture
Partners state in their industry focus, occasionally
technology is so revolutionary that it can transform the way
an entire industry works. This is perhaps the most
compelling opportunity ahead of us.
Software complexity kills its customer’s profits. We are
here to kill complexity itself. One industry vertical at a
time.
A lot of enterprise software was created a long time
ago when there wasn’t as much concern for the user
experience. Now, customers are more demanding of a
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