The Last Mile of Business Automation Is The Hardest

There’s a reason why marathoners say that the last mile is the hardest. They have been running for hours at their fastest pace. They have burned nearly 2,400 calories in just over 25 miles. Now, when their strength and emotions are equally sapped, they have to dig deep and somehow to find a reserve of energy for a strong finish.

After all, a marathon is 26.2 miles long, not 25.2 miles. And races are won and lost based on how quick you are for the entire race. Giving up on the last mile is just not an option.

Your last mile of business automation is no different. Emerging growth companies spend an incredible amount of resources implementing their primary computer systems — ERP, CRM, operational software. Most of these systems are commercial off-the-shelf (a.k.a., COTS) products, but some may have custom software developed exclusively for them. Still, others may have migrated to the Cloud with a SaaS (software as a service) application they no longer have to maintain on premise.

With many mid-market companies investing an average of 6-figures and months of staff time, it should not come as a surprise that the last mile of automation is the hardest. The last thing many executives want to think about is whether there are any gaps in their new workflow automation or missed opportunities to improve their customer experience. They might say something like this: “Hey, we checked the IT box! The software is finally up and running. It’s time to move on.”

Sadly, some of the ‘last mile’ activities that get pushed aside can have an over-sized impact on your company. From staff stressed out by burdensome manual workarounds to errors resulting in customer satisfaction issues, the costs add up fast. No company wants a disgruntled workforce and high levels of customer and employee attrition.

Just like a marathoner, it’s imperative that companies finish their last mile of business automation strong. The first 25 miles may have been hard, but what’s even harder is watching the competition pass by because they found the strength to win the race.

If you want to learn more about how to extend your current business software to win your race, please download our latest white paper entitled: “Business Automation Primer.”

Clear Measure has experience helping companies through the last mile. Just drop us a line and we’ll show you how to beat back those pesky manual workarounds, bloated Excel spreadsheets and time-consuming redundancies!