What do we mean by “Friction” in this context? How does “Friction” affect Staff productivity?
A task needs to be completed by a user but issues with the software required to complete that tasks present repeated obstacles resulting in protracting the time taken to complete said task, thus reducing efficiencies.
Why has Qi written this article? To provide some advice on increasing Staff Productivity!
Qi exists to partner with SMEs in the UK to successfully implement logical, robust, scalable and flexible business solutions and has 30+ years of experience assessing this kind of ‘Friction’, and consulting, delivering and supporting Financial, Manufacturing and CRM solutions that remove it.
Example Customer ‘Friction’ scenarios have included the historic use of:
! Sage 50 Accounts (regularly crashing)
! Sage 200 (integrating with a 3rd party MRP)
! Sage 1000 (limping along with a legacy product)
! Pegasus (integrations for MRP are limited and difficult to flex)
! Legacy versions of Dynamics NAV (less native functionality than modern ERP so reliant on development and lack of security updates causing problems)
!’Other’ proprietary software usually with limited support and development options (leaves the customer in a ‘time warp’ with no scope to flex and scale)
The ‘Adapt (make do) and Carry On’ principle – ‘Not my job to review our use of Sage 50 Accounts’
Most people don’t raise issues for minor system frustrations, they ‘adapt’. They report problems only when something is completely unstable. Most users in your team do not consider it their remit to ‘complain’ or suggest change.
- They reload and carry on
- They avoid certain features or systems, and carry on.
- They build spreadsheets an workarounds, and carry on
- They stop expecting things to improve and just, carry on
- From their perspective, these issues are “just part of the job”. But they still, carry on.
From a business perspective Business Applications users ‘adapting’ results in:
- Reduced Efficiencies
- Minutes lost, multiple times per day
- Reduced focus and flow
- Growing frustration
- Lower confidence in core systems and data outputs which leads to double entry on to disparate systems, which in turn results in more minutes lost
Business Owners would benefit from asking for opinion without recourse
The ‘Adapt and Carry On’ principle is often not a Business Owner pain because they are not necessarily processing on the business applications in daily use and reports are prepared and presented to them.
Ask a simple internal question to each member of your team:
“What slows you down most during a normal day?”
The answers are rarely surprising – and they are almost always system or software related
Business Owner pain- The Symptoms Look Different
Business owners usually experience the impact of friction rich business applications at a higher level:
- Staff seem less productive than expected.
- Work takes longer than planned.
- New starters take too long to become effective.
- Some team members start to suffer with the ‘knowledge is power’ working with individual work arounds.
- Staff turnover tends to be higher (burnt out).
- Operational costs feel unpredictable.
- Security and compliance feel worrying but unclear.
- Crucial reports are time consuming to prepare and out of date by the time you see them.
These are people issues- right?
In short – No!
In reality, many stem from underlying system friction caused by business applications.
Lets translate:
“People are inefficient”
Consider clunky applications, insufficient core functionality & slow workflows as the root cause?
“Onboarding takes too long”
Do you have a confident learning leader? Has your business created specific onboarding collateral to not only help the new recruit but to save time for your staff and to ensure onboarding is consistent.
Does part of onboarding have to include how to circumnavigate the system ‘Friction’, with work arounds and disparate systems?
“Costs feel unpredictable”
Reactive fixes (such as repeated data errors and serious corruptions or requirements for additional interfacing software (CRM for example) because business applications no longer meet your business needs (user numbers, functionality, accessibility, accountability).
“Security concerns within your supply chain”
A lack of visibility & inconsistent controls makes achieving ISO 2701 and Cyber Essentials, expensive and time consuming and could results in your business losing out on valuable business.
“Where is my report and how up to date is it?”
As a business owner, key decisions are yours to make. Making these decisions on questionable data will lead to questionable outcomes. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but is often very uncomfortable.
Different pain. Same root cause.
The disconnect regarding ‘Friction’ caused by Business Systems
- Users feel daily friction.
- Owners see business drag.
But nobody naturally connects the two.
As a result, businesses often invest in:
- Additional applications (more disparate systems and data)
- Process ‘improvements’ which can add further stages and complexities because actually they are just backstops!
- Potentially unnecessary hardware or software upgrades which will not solve the problem if the root cause is unsuitable business applications.
Often, therefore, the underlying systems people rely on everyday remain largely untouched as these systems are not accepted as being the root cause.
The ‘Friction’ Deniers will:
- End up optimising around friction instead of removing it.
- Accepting normalised disfunction.
Because the mantras are:
- If it’s not broke don’t fix it!
- Better the devil you know!
And the status quo remains:
- When problems are dramatic, they get fixed.
- When problems are small and constant, they become background noise.
Worst of all!
Over time, poor experience becomes the baseline.
Potential Plan of Action to assess business system friction
Before considering a ‘formal’ audit – try a simple reality check
Ask staff what annoys them most about your systems
- Look for repeated themes
- Notice which issues have existed “for years”
- If multiple people give similar answers, that isn’t a user issue – it’s unresolved system friction.
Thought for the Day
Business owners do not need to focus on the complexities of change but more the provision of a reliable, robust and properly managed central business application that quietly and simple support users to get work done and business owners to make better decisions.
Less ‘Friction’, More Gain!
Removing ‘Friction’ from business systems will provide real gains for users and business leaders alike: better user experience, less frustration, increased productivity, better data & better decisions.
Why not have a chat with Qi? (Because crashing out of Sage for example, is NOT good for business!)
If you’d like an informal, no-obligation conversation about where hidden system pain may exist in your business, we are happy to have that discussion
If you feel the ‘formal’ audit route is the one for you- we can help with that too and in some instances introduce you to grant funding. That should make Qi a very good place to start your journey in addressing business system friction. See what the businesses we work with have to say, here.
