If you answered yes to any of the above, I can help you. Hi. I’m Rich Croft, owner and CEO of Aspen Media Solutions. Let me ask you a couple of questions.

Is your business a clone of every other one in your industry? Do you use exactly the same ancillary software, same ordering system, same shipper, etc? In other words was your business made by a cookie cutter just like everyone other?

Or did you actually create and build the business yourself?

If you’re like most businesses, the owner and key executives have worked hard to create a business that is unique in how it functions, how it interacts with customers and suppliers. You’ve spent countless hours creating a truly individual and competitive business.

Is generic software helping or hindering your company’s growth?

I’m sure you’ve heard the story about when Henry Ford built his first factory. You could get a car in any color as long as it was black. Car production has evolved a lot since then and now it’s possible to get a car in any one of multiple colors with various size engines, sound systems etc.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could do the same with the software you use to run your business instead of just having one or two options and being stuck with a single solution that’s supposed to work for everyone?

Does one-size software fit all?

Imagine you went to buy a pair of pants and the only size the store sold was with a 28” waist and 42” length. They’d fit a bean-pole but not most of us. Fitting into them would require some serious compromises and discomfort.

The same is true of off-the-shelf software. It’s meant to fit the average company and if you want to be an average company that may be okay but… we work with companies that want to be more than average, ones that want to be at the top the ladder.

Recently we worked with Intel on a project. One of their websites was set up to calculate shipping costs based on two letters, you know like CT for Connecticut or WY for Wyoming. For countries it would use a code like CA for Canada. It was simple and elegant except it didn’t work.

As you may know an alternative code for Canada is CAN. Unfortunately the software used to determine the shipping costs happened to be using this three-letter code instead of the two-letter code used by the website. When the shipping system encountered the two-letter code for Canada it did not recognize it and just defaulted to the U.S. shipping cost instead of charging the additional fees for shipping.

The result?

The erroneous system was only in place for one day. Yet in that one day there were more than 1,000 orders processed for Canada. Because the extra shipping costs were not being added into the order, Intel had to foot the bill for the extra $12. So in this short amount of time, the company lost $12,000 because of the letter N.

It would be nice if all software solutions were truly plug-and-play out of the box. However this just isn’t the case. Automating and integrating systems with legacy software can be complicated and more often than not require a custom solution. Having a solution in place that properly fits the needs of your business can make a big difference.

Ready to discover the secret that most business owners will never know about their software infrastructure?

Call AMS today at 801-805-1916 to schedule an appointment with an advisory team member and discover how much more successful your business could be. This initial analysis is provided with no obligation or charge but contact us ASAP as we get booked many weeks in advance.

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