Software is to a Company Like Soil is to a Plant

Software is to a Company Like Soil is to a Plant

GPN releases the article “Software is to a Company Like Soil is to a Plant,” written by SBI Software CEO, Aaron Allison.

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Here are five software features that simplify and save time.

The grower industry is competitive, capital intensive and dependent on good weather. Growers must improve efficiencies and lower costs to fight shrinking margins. Software that is specifically built for growers, not widgets, makes all the difference in trying to achieve these goals.

Grower software, like all software, is ever evolving. There will never be a day when the green industry has “finished” developing software. As the industry changes and evolves, so does the software needed to manage it. Software is the foundation of any healthy business in this day and age. To be competitive, technology is a required tool. It is no longer an option to go without, and the key is simplicity not complexity.

Each department in a growing operation has unique business process needs that must be met. Over time, the business process and the requirements of each department can change, and so must the software. Typical widget software often creates more work — and workarounds — for the user. Widgets are built for businesses with higher margins and often require an army of users to continuously update the massive amounts of data.

Widget software creates more user labor and unnecessary complexity, which results in higher hidden costs. The negative impact on the business is vastly underestimated. Growers also face a more compressed season that requires faster adaptations within the software, thus compounding the high costs associated with using widget software, which is cumbersome and slower to update.

Software developers should be constantly refining and adjusting the software to find simpler ways for users to complete their work, all in the effort to reduce user labor and software complexity. As a general rule, the more complicated the software is to set up and use, the less profit the company secures from using it.

The five tools highlighted here are just a few of our clients’ favorite features. Some features are new and just coming onto the market; yet, they all make it simpler to plan and execute actions in less time, with fewer mistakes. The tools give users the ability to adapt to change, which is an everyday part of growers’ lives. The features presented here were built to help growers decrease the labor costs associated with managing their software, and to speed up the repetitive tasks that every grower dreads.

To view the article in its entirety, visit GPN’s website.