It’s easy to say that enterprise software has made great strides. After all, it’s hard not to marvel at the progress that’s been made over the last several decades, as businesses have transitioned from using paper and pencil to programs in the cloud in order to manage their operations.
But if we take a closer look at more recent technological progress, we realize that the movement from on-premise to off-premise was the last major transition in enterprise software. No true transformation has occurred since then. And new data suggests that the current lapse in further innovation in the enterprise software space has resulted in significant consequences for today’s businesses.
In fact, while the migration to the “cloud” in the form of subscription-based software (SaaS) made big software more affordable and accessible by overcoming distribution and financial hurdles, it did very little to address the fundamental end-user challenges.
It’s not just a matter of waiting for the next wave of innovation to make life a little easier for businesses. According to a recent survey of over 500 business and IT executives by my company, TrackVia, the absence of progress with current enterprise software is having a negative impact on businesses. Worse, it’s cited as preventing company growth.
The survey revealed that traditional enterprise software — whether installed on local servers or delivered via the internet — lacks the capabilities they say they need most, and illustrates the four ways that today’s enterprise software is failing businesses.
1. Few options for customization and scalability
Inflexibility and an overall lack of adaptability was one of the top software challenges cited by executives. Current enterprise software solutions offer few options to customize or tailor applications to the unique needs of different businesses. Businesses need the ability to easily and quickly change, modify and scale software as they grow and their operations evolve. The inability to do this was also cited as a major frustration.
These rigid limitations are having a negative impact on how businesses operate. In fact, more than four out of five (82 percent) executives claim they’ve had to change the way their business operates to match their enterprise software.
This lack of customization is forcing organizations to rip out and replace legacy systems, as they struggle to find a solution that is more capable of meeting their needs. Seventy-six percent say they’ve switched software programs because they needed updates or customizations made that their vendor could not execute or the software itself could not accommodate. Unsurprisingly, the time, money…