The Dreaded “W” of Workflow

Workflow in the CRM world quite often involves a consultant (in cahoots with a willing client) automating everything; simply because they can. I’ve been there myself (kicking and screaming); I once developed a really cool approval routing system that was end-user configurable. Unfortunately, as in my example, what was really happening was something Bill Gates warned us about:

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency”

And

“The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency”

This is actually pretty simplistic in that there is no discussion of value or whether making something faster actually aligns with your organization’s competitive differentiators; but it’s still something worth remembering. To make things even simpler, we can also use this old adage…

OO + NT = EOO

(Old Organization plus New Technology equals Expensive Old Organization)

Any organization r…