Intraversed myth busting:
We can save money by accepting terminology and out-of-the-box configuration

ESTIMATED READING TIME: 2 MINUTES

Why people believe the myth

It’s cheaper if we adjust our business to the out-of-the-box software process

Why people believe the myth

New software can be expensive. When it’s organisation-wide, or a multi-armed tool to better manage activity in several functional areas, it can be hugely expensive. And out-of-the-box is always much cheaper than a customised version. So much cheaper, in fact, that the obvious burden of that extra cost seems unjustifiable. After all, businesses processes and language can all be adjusted to suit the software at no additional cost…or so it seems.

The Problem with the Myth

Calculation of the actual cost associated with changing staff thinking, business process and language almost never gets done. This is convenient for those selling out-of-the-box software solutions, because they know that if customisation was essential, their product wouldn’t look so cost-effective and justifiable. In fact, the additional cost of essential configuration effort by the vendor is sometimes deliberately obscured.

Your business processes and the language embedded in your organisation around those processes are very valuable things. What efficiency and success you currently have depends on them. They’ve developed within your organisation for a reason… your people have carved the most functional language and process over time. To force all of this to change, just for the sake of software cost, ignores both the reality of human nature, and the knowledge that humans bring to these processes. Software, developed with no knowledge of your processes, cannot work with your unique organisational system. It will override, and likely break, it.

It's a tragic mistake to assume that the staff time (and effort), along with the risk of problems, will cost your business less than the cost of customisation. We’ve seen this kind of problem cost businesses years of unexpected expense, well beyond the original budget and schedule of the new software implementation. It’s an incredibly big unseen financial & operational risk.

What We Suggest Instead of This Myth

Businesses aware of their business process- and language-related risk will actively manage current business process documentation and business glossary content. A governance team will oversee this management and ensure the capability is in place. Consequently, they are equipped to smoothly guide vendors though customisations, resulting in an efficient and effective implementation of major software initiatives. Investment in such management of language and business knowledge artefacts can reduce the potential customisation costs, and can certainly reduce the cost of forcing staff, business process and language changes across your organisation.

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Our award-winning Intralign Ecosystem methodology enables cultural shift towards business-managed encyclopaedias of organisational IP through education, software, business glossary writing expertise, and expert mentoring & support. Learn more here.

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