Here’s something that changed the world: At the offices of IBM, Steve Jobs saw that having a Graphical User-Interface (GUI), as opposed to typing out green code onto a black screen, would shake the computer industry from the ground, upwards.
They didn’t have one of those yet at the time. When leaving, he told his team that their company’s entire focus would need to shift. Exasperated, one of his executives exclaimed, “but Steve, if we do that, we’ll blow up our own business.” Jobs replied, “Better we should blow it up than someone else.”
They abandoned the Lisa project, which by the way, had cost them millions – then started on developing the Macintosh Computer – which then, as we may know it, changed the whole world. It takes guts to actively think about your business honestly. And then make a decision about it.
At Zoomination, we see how companies, time and time again, don’t start to even think about ventures that could alter the structures of their business…
So when it comes to “business automation” as a concept – it will sound terrifying at first, leading to answer like: “This is how it’s done, this is how it’s always been done.” You can generally trace a shoddy system to a lack of core beliefs – what the company stands for… A great belief stays the same, so that the systems surrounding it can remain flexible enough to better serve the belief. Steve Jobs knew what Apple stood for – the individual and their access to career-changing technology – so he wasn’t afraid to pour resources into the GUI. It reflected his company’s beliefs.
The benefits to automating your business?
- The time saved could compound over time, their staff would be less stressed (no more tedious admin, centred on printing, organising paper and sending job cards out)
- Projects would be done faster, as the general hang-ups around long-overused ineffective systems (*cough* Excel Spreadsheets as customer databases *cough*) would be replaced with a new CRM.
- Less time would be spent on putting out admin-related fires based on human error. (Less admin to solve)
- And when was the last time you had to squeeze your logo into an invoice on an excel spreadsheet?
Business CRM/Automation Software would change how you do business (for the better.) It’s simply a matter of being willing to blow your own company up a bit – and put it back together again, albeit, better.