Systems development: a practical guide for business managers

Systems development: a practical guide for business managers (how to understand what exactly is needed)

If you're reading this, the situation is probably something like this:

- The number of Excel files is growing faster than turnover;

- data is scattered across emails, systems, and employees' heads;

- and you have heard the words “systems development” , “IT systems development” , “WEB systems development” , “ERP system development” , but it's not clear - where to start?!

This article is not about technology. It's about... How can a business manager understand what exactly you need and why ?

1. Take a 3-minute diagnostic: do you really need systems development?

Answer yourself honestly to each “yes/no.” If “yes” ≥ 3, you are very close to custom system development will pay off.

- Is data on customers, orders, projects currently available? in more than 2 places (e.g. Excel + CRM + email) ?;

- Or at least once a month there is a situation “aaaah, I am working with an old version of the file?!” ?;

- Is it for management? Are reports created manually and does it take at least 1 day per month?;

- Have at least 2 people in the team regularly corrects other people's errors in data ?;

- Have you ever had a case where the cause of a costly error was “incorrect data / out-of-sync systems”?;

- Is there any critical process (production, warehouse, projects) not in the system at all , but happens via email, chat, or verbally?

Then, we can roughly conclude that:

If “yes” is 4–6, then 100% need at least 1 targeted system (not necessarily a full ERP); 
If “yes” is 2–3, then a focused WEB systems development for a specific process; 
If "yes" is 0–1, then don't worry, you're in the early stages right now, Excel is not yet your "enemy" that is holding your company back.

2. Summary in one phrase: what REALLY is systems development?

Systems development = we take your real business process (not theory), lay it out conceptually step by step, and program a tool that:

- reduces manual work;

- reduces errors in data;

- gives management a clear view.

There can be different accents here:

- IT systems development - internal tools for employees;

- Information systems development - data, reports, dashboards;

- WEB systems development - everything that runs in a browser (portals, application forms, dashboards, etc.);

- ERP system development - a broader “all-in-one” solution for finance, warehouse, production, etc.

Technologies (Laravel, React, Node, etc.) are secondary - what matters is business logic .

3. Which process gives you the greatest ROI from systems development?

To avoid starting to digitize the entire company at once, choose one specific process with the greatest potential benefit and start with it!

Create a table to structure each company process according to its impact and complexity, for example:

Then, for each process, ask yourself 3 questions:

- If this process were automated by 50%, how much hours per month would that be liberating?;

- If the number of errors were halved, how much time/ how much money would it save?;

- Is this process critical to your business, without it the business won't move forward?;

This is the direct basis system development priorities . Not an abstract “we want to digitize everything”, but: “First we are creating a web system for orders and the warehouse, then an information system for reports.”

4. Three real-world scenarios: what systems development looks like in practice

Scenario A: From Excel to a unified order and project tool: 
Company with +7 people in the office and more than 10 employees in the field. Orders, information and data come in via email, phone, website form and other channels. Everything is recorded in Excel or on a piece of paper + “someone keeps it in their head”.

Problem:

- there is no unified list of what everyone does;

- small tasks are often forgotten;

- There is no realistic view of workload, profit and projects.

Systems development here means:

- WEB systems development for order and project accounting;

- development of information systems , i.e. dashboards for management (turnover, profit, workload);

- integration with email / web form (orders come in automatically).

For example, a real benefit: 2 project managers who previously spent 1-2 days a month doing reports now don't. These days are turning into in real sales and project management .

Scenario B: From multiple SaaS tools to an integrated information system: 
The company uses CRM, warehouse, accounting, and e-commerce. Data about the same customer/purchase is located in 3-4 places.

Problem:

- there is no unified view;

- the customer has one information in the email, the warehouse has another;

- reports on the overall situation literally have to be glued together manually.

Systems development here means:

- development of integration solutions between different systems ;

- developing information systems that take data from all sources and present one version of the truth;

- web application development for management (dashboards, report generation).

For example, the benefit is: management get a unified report in one place , have to work with four different programs and Excel files.

Scenario C: industry specifics that off-the-shelf ERP solutions cannot fully support:

A manufacturing, logistics or construction company that already has an ERP system , but daily work is still based on parallel Excel files, paper notebooks and WhatsApp groups, because real processes are not correctly reflected in the ERP solution .

Systems development here means:

- development of custom systems for a specific industry;

- development of web systems , for example, for recording production tasks and execution;

- integration and data developing exchange solutions around the existing ERP so that the new tool can use ERP data without limiting processes to the framework of the ready-made solution.

For example, the benefit is: ERP continues to fulfill the role of accounting and central database, but daily work takes place in a convenient web system that is adapted to real processes.

5. What to prepare before talking to Vizual

To ensure that the first conversation is not a theory, but a concrete work on your situation, prepare a short summary:

1) Brief description of the company

- industry;

- number of employees (office/field, if any);

- customer type (B2B, B2C or both).

2) Three processes that currently slow down work the most

For each process, note:

- how it is happening now (channels, tools, people involved);

- where exactly the work is slowing down, for example, chaos, delays, data errors;

- what do you want to achieve, for example, less manual input, fewer errors, faster reports, a unified view.

3) Existing systems

- CRM / ERP / Warehouse / Accounting / E-shop / Excel: where and how it is used.

This is enough for us to prepare for the conversation normally and not start from scratch with “general digitalization”.

6. What can you do now?

If you want real results from this article, not just interesting reading material, then:

1. Mark one process from point 3 that would be logical to start with;

2. Write a short summary with a description of the company;

3. Send this summary to us via Vizual.lv and sign up for the conversation.

From that moment on, we can develop a specific action plan , for example, how to streamline processes and implement a system that works specifically for your business, with clear steps, deadlines, and budget limits . If you want to get to such a plan, come to vizual.lv , send us a summary of your company, and sign up for a conversation - we'll do the rest!

From that point on, we can develop a concrete action plan on how to streamline processes and implement a system that works specifically for your business, with clear steps, deadlines, and budget limits . If you want to get to such a plan, come to vizual.lv , send us a summary of your company, and sign up for a conversation - we'll do the rest .