Use basic software and build it out

80% of business owners and decision makers I talk to about automation hate at least one piece of software in their business. However, they never change or improve it because it’s doing the bare minimum and there are bigger, easier priorities. Often, this software has outsourced management (an IT company is looking after it for you), isn’t integrated with anything, has zero customisation/wiggle room and every task is super manual. Does that sound familiar to your IT stack?

Whenever we scope projects to integrate software of this nature, it almost always emerges that the best solution is to change to a different platform that offers more customisation. The simpler an app, the more you can customise it for your needs. That’s why I love Excel and GSheets; they’re incredibly powerful and they start off completely blank. You can integrate anything, build anything, and AI actually knows about them and can write formulas that work. Oh, and they barely touch your wallet.

You can build any generic business processes on spreadsheets. I know I sound like an IT neanderthal saying that, but ERPs are just a whole bunch of spreadsheets (tables) anyway. I’m not saying nothing else is required - if you run production and manufacturing, an industry production tool is likely going to be necessary. But the point is that the best software stack for your business is starting from blank interfaces and building them out. It applies to CRMs for example: anyone that hates their CRM finds it way too complex and rigid, because it’s not designed for their business. You’re going to save a lot of long-term time, hassle and money if you start with a blank canvas on something like monday.com or ClickUp, as opposed to a function-heavy, expensive CRM like Hubspot or Salesforce.

Build stuff for your business. Avoid getting stuff that’s built for other businesses. Future you will be happy.