In short. A digital transformation works when it starts from how the company works today, not from an industry in general. You find the point where software costs the most, build the first piece that brings value straight away and grow it in iterations. The rest comes later, not before.
How do you know where to begin?
A simple rule: if you are the glue between programs, the problem is the software. The signs are always the same:
- the Excel export to get what the management system does not cover;
- the licence renewed every year and used at a fifth;
- data copied by hand from one program to another, with the typo you find three weeks later.
These are costs you will not find on an invoice, but you pay them every day. The first intervention is to be looked for there.
Off-the-shelf or custom software?
Off-the-shelf software costs little at first and presents the bill later, in lost hours and stopgaps that become permanent. Custom software is an investment that pays off when it stops slowing you down and starts allowing things your competitors, with the same bought tool, cannot do. The sum is done over the long run: the difference shows in the third year, not the first.
How long does it take?
A clickable prototype appears in a few weeks. The first version in production, the one people start using to work, usually arrives in a few months, and it is not the complete version: it is the piece that brings value straight away. From there you add in iterations.
What about funding?
It should be considered at the start, not at the end. Regional, national or EU funds, grants and calls finance the costs of innovation: if the project fits a call, the sum changes. It is almost never that the funds do not exist: the hard part is knowing which ones fit your case and presenting a project solid enough. We cover it on the public funding page.
Where do you start, in practice?
In three steps:
- A free chat to understand how you work today.
- A short analysis that ends with a precise quote.
- A prototype to try with real users, before building everything.
Do you have a process that holds only because you are in the middle of it?
Let's talk. You can see how we work on the custom software page.
