Today’s business world is filled with buzz words that change from year to year as business improvement techniques come and go. I recently read an article on résumés that emphasized such terms as “team player”, “results oriented”, etc., have gone the way of the dinosaurs. Process improvement models such as TQM (Total Quality Management) have given way to Six Sigma, and JIT (Just in Time) to Lean Manufacturing. But the processes themselves have never gone out of style, and never will, although the next management fad may hang a different moniker on them and package them in a slightly different way. Efficiency and process improvement will never become obsolete, no matter what you call them.

When you purchased your current software system, you went through an installation process with the help of your Clients First implementation team where you defined your requirements, configured your software, set up your processes, and trained your employees. For the first few months on the system, your Clients First software support team helped you work on your issues, write or modify reports, and get to the point where you are probably pretty self sufficient, depending on the size of the company and the role of internal IT staff.

If you have a ‘mature’ implementation, you probably only call Clients First when you have a problem or software related issue. But did you know that we’re much more than “Software Repair People”, we’re Consultants and can help you with your business process requirements beyond your software related needs. If fact, as your business partner, we have a more in-depth perspective of your company than you probably realize. Not only can we do an Account Checkup to see if you’re using your software to its full potential, but we can help you when you’re planning on adding product lines, changing the way you do business, acquiring subsidiaries, downsizing and needing to streamline processes, just about anything that has to do with business processes. There is no need to go to an outside consultancy firm, when you’ve already got one that knows your business, but is still far enough removed from day-to-day operations to provide the objective eye you often need when trying to make improvements.

Is it taking too long to get an order out the door? Do you need a job description for an IT employee? Do you need assistance doing long term planning? Are you adding a department and need to develop process flows? Has the way your company does business changed? Are you using workarounds because you believe your software doesn’t support a function? Has your system been implemented for more than 2 years without a review to ensure that you’re using it in the most efficient way? We’re your business partner and many of our Project Leaders and Implementers are also Business Process Consultants. Call us in the planning stages and we will probably be able to save you a lot of pain later on. Don’t know what your pain is? Call us, and we’ll help you define your pain areas and develop a plan to remediate them. Don’t think your primary support rep has the knowledge? Call and find out. If the primary doesn’t, he/she will bring in someone from our staff that can help you out.

So whether you call if efficiency, good organization, total quality or whatever word they use next week, let Clients First help ensure that it describes you.

Please contact Clients First for more information.  Thanks to Karen Wevick from our Alabama office.