Our business sometimes gets asked to advise on either computer software or web applications that could help a business improve its efficiency or communications. Invariably, the opinion of clients is that problems will be solved, in one way or another, by software.

The truth is different: an inefficiently run business will only become better at being inefficient, by using software or a web application. In most cases adopting this technology will always make a business less efficient, at best, in the short term, at worst, forever. Instead attention should be given to what a business has or doesn’t have. In particular, there are three things that a business should have before it even starts to consider technology:

• The right Policies
• The right Procedures
• The right People

Technology is only there to empower and enable people to carry out procedures more effectively. There is no simple solution or quick fix.