In the increasingly competitive landscape of sales incentive automation, a common trap that many organizations fall into is prioritizing lower licensing costs over effective implementations. While on the surface, this may seem like a smart financial decision, in reality, the hidden costs of bad implementations often far outweigh any immediate savings.
To start with, bad implementations can result in much more than just a monetary loss. They often lead to a significant increase in manual efforts, complicating rather than simplifying ongoing management tasks. What was supposed to be an automation solution morphs into a burden, adding to the workload instead of reducing it.
Moreover, the fallout from poorly executed implementations isn’t always readily acknowledged, perhaps due to the number of egos and careers involved. Yet, these scenarios are glaringly visible, creating tension and frustration within teams and negatively impacting overall productivity.
The damaging effects of poor implementations don’t end there. These faulty systems can stagger along for years, serving as a constant reminder of the failed initiative. It’s like a ticking time bomb, everyone knows it’s there, yet it continues to exist until someone finally musters the courage to pull the plug. That’s years of lost productivity and efficiency – a cost that is often overlooked but has a massive impact on an organization’s bottom line.
Bad implementations also tend to have a domino effect. A poor experience with one system can delay the acquisition and implementation of a better, more efficient system for years. Once burned, twice shy – organizations become wary of embarking on a similar path, thus depriving themselves of the benefits a well-implemented system could offer.
To illustrate this point, we constantly engage with prospects who opted for a cheaper sales incentive automation alternative over our solution. A year later, they are yet to go live as their implementation drags on. Every conversation brings with it the promise of the go-live being right around the corner, but it never seems to arrive.
When it comes to selecting incentive systems, I can’t stress enough the importance of looking at the pedigree of the implementers. Their experience, expertise, and track record are far more valuable than saving a few bucks or being enticed by some shiny bells and whistles on the software.
In conclusion, when it comes to software implementations, an ounce of prevention truly is worth a pound of cure. Make the right choices upfront, and you’ll be thanking yourself later for the saved costs, increased efficiency, and a significant boost in productivity.
