Tools and processes are there to facilitate people and foster productivity & compliance. An ideal tool would enable its users to create reports, submit forms, automate the approvals, track progress and check eligibility and get reimbursed without having to run around the office getting signatures of concerned persons/departments. They need to have a standardized interface that will allow the necessary person see a summary (with items relevant to them) while having flexibility of drilling down to details, statistics of similar claims & trends. It should guide
However today tools & IT/ERP systems have become counter-productive and have forgotten its original purpose. Tool down/ system down are common. Deviation/exception required to conduct normal business, manual intervention to expedite the process, manual follow-ups/reminders, paperwork should happen once in a blue moon. If their frequency is rising, then the tool has lost its relevance and should be scrapped in favor of a better process. Sometimes the whole process is so frustrating that you believe that a non IT enabled company with manual book-keeping is more efficient.
For those of you who are wondering the meaning of the title, it means “base of a lamp is always dark”. Indian IT firms are providing technology & ERP solutions to the world, but somehow they forgot implementing some of these best practices in-house. Could somebody educate them that for any tool/system the stake holders are not just the department that commissioned the implementation, but actual employees who are going to use the system & do the data entry.
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