A practical guide for business owners
Before buying another tool, follow one piece of work.
Pick a real customer enquiry, project or recurring task. Walk through it with the people involved. These seven checks help you decide whether you need new software, a better connection or a simpler way of working.
Talk about your businessUse real examples with private customer details removed.
No email required. Use these questions with your team, then bring the answers to a supplier or to a conversation with me.
Check 01
Name the business result.
Write down what would be better for the customer, employee or business. “We need a dashboard” is a proposed solution. “The delivery team needs to know what sales promised before work starts” describes a need.
- Write: We want [person or team] to be able to [action], so that [business result].
- Ask: What happens today when this does not work?
Check 02
Follow one example from start to finish.
List where the work starts, who handles it, where information is recorded and how it finishes. Include the spreadsheet, message and informal conversation that the official process leaves out.
- Write: Trigger → person → information → decision → next person.
- Ask: Where does someone wait, copy information or ask for the same answer again?
Check 03
Check what you already have.
List the tools involved, what people actually use and which records are trusted. Ask whether an existing feature, clearer ownership or a small connection could solve the need. A low subscription price is not the whole cost if a team must keep copying and checking information.
- Write: Keep, configure, connect or replace, with a reason for each.
- Ask: Are we buying a new capability or duplicating one nobody has configured?
Check 04
Compare the full cost of each option.
Compare doing nothing, improving the process, configuring an existing product, buying a different product and building something specific. Include setup, migration, staff time, training, running costs and what happens if you later leave.
- Write: Initial cost, ongoing cost, internal time, likely benefit and main uncertainty.
- Ask: Can the supplier explain why this option is appropriate without relying on a demo?
Check 05
Ask what happens when things go wrong.
Try a missing field, an unexpected customer request, a failed connection and a person being away. Decide which actions need human permission and how someone finds out that work has stopped.
- Write: Failure, person notified, safe fallback and recovery step.
- Ask: Can we see what happened, correct it and avoid sending or charging twice?
Check 06
Test a small, useful piece of work.
Agree who will use the first version and what they will test. Compare it with the current process using measures the team can observe. Do not count a successful demonstration as proof that the business has improved.
- Write: Baseline, test period, measure and who decides whether to continue.
- Ask: Did it reduce effort or errors without creating another task somewhere else?
Check 07
Agree what you own and what happens next.
Before committing, agree responsibilities, access, documentation, support and how changes are priced. Establish how you can export information and what happens to the system when the engagement ends.
- Write: Who owns each account, who maintains the software and how information is exported.
- Ask: Could another suitable person understand and support this without starting again?
A few useful answers.
Does custom software always beat an existing product?
No. A well-chosen existing product can be the better answer. Custom software needs a clear reason, an owner and a realistic plan for maintenance.
Can I use this with my team without contacting you?
Yes. It is an open guide. If you would like help working through the answers or building what comes next, send a short outline of the business and the need.
The conversation comes first
Tell me what you want the business to do better.
A short outline of the business, how things work today and where you want to get to is enough to start. Please leave out passwords and private customer information.
Talk with Athar athar@ajahmed.com