"You're only as good as your tools" is a common refrain heard in the business world, originally with regard to 'literal' tools, such as those used by craftsmen.
But with the increased reliance of businesses on computers and software as their tools of the trade, it has now taken on a whole new meaning.
What the saying refers to is simple; the quality of the tools at your disposal will have a definite effect on your productivity and potential.
In the world of IT, these tools of the trade are software programs, which can perform any number of different tasks which help streamline, simplify, and automate processes which could otherwise be complex and time consuming.
Where in the past business success and productivity was almost wholly centered on the personnel and leadership of the company, software is now responsible for an ever increasing chunk of the productivity pie.
The ways in which software can be used to help businesses are many.
Record keeping and tracking is one of the most noteworthy areas of software development, allowing companies to store a limitless amount of data, and effortlessly sort through, collate, and organize said data.
Another noteworthy area is process automation, and the ways this can be applied will be different for different businesses.
It could be software that automatically generates sales reports, software that instantly e-mails customers when a product they ordered has been shipped, or software that carries out data searches within your system.
Most important of all though is simply having software that works.
Nothing lessens your company's productivity more than unscheduled downtime due to software bugs, glitches, etc.
Your software can have the greatest functionality in the world, but if it simply isn't reliable, its use is severely limited.
How You Can Help The Software Development Process - You can and should take an active role in the software development process.
Request to receive and test out builds of the software on a regular basis as it's being developed.
By doing so you can help spot any potential issues that are arising, bugs that may have gone unnoticed to this point in the development process, and may also be able to suggest further improvements or refinements to the software where necessary.
You may also be able to spot issues that are arising from integrating the software into your computer environment, which may raise issues that would otherwise be impossible for the software developers to test for on their own.
It's true that changing the scope of a project as it's being worked on serves to infuriate software developers, and may lead to additional charges, but your number one priority should be to receive software that contains everything you need to operate at the highest possible standards.