Challenges Employers Encounter With Disconnected Systems

ERP systems are burning millions in wasted spend. here are 5 ways to fix it. i watched aerospace executives go pale as their cio explained that their $32M erp project had just hit $48M. worse yet, they couldn't deliver on commitments to customers. you could feel the tension as market position was now at risk. this story plays out again and again because companies run on 100+ disconnected systems. these tech silos make it nearly impossible for teams to collaborate, make smart decisions, or respond quickly to market changes. the missing piece? executives who bridge the gap between technical implementation and business strategy. if you're leading a transformation, focus on these five areas that actually move the needle: 1️⃣ financial management: build simple dashboards that track spending against budget. catch problems early before they turn into million-dollar overruns. 2️⃣ scope control: test every change request against your strategic goals. know the true cost before saying yes. 3️⃣ risk management: cut the noise. focus only on risks that threaten critical milestones. everything else is a distraction. 4️⃣ decision alignment: keep a running list of who decided what and why. nothing kills projects faster than leaders contradicting each other. 5️⃣ stakeholder buy-in: watch engagement metrics like a hawk. people problems sink projects faster than technical issues ever will. success isn't about some perfect linear process. it's about creating a feedback loop where your people, your systems, and your intelligence layer strengthen each other. for a deeper dive on executive oversight in erp implementations, check out my latest article in lighthouse where i explore how disciplined governance can prevent project derailment and deliver the operational efficiency your stakeholders expect. link in comments 👇

Building on the insightful conversation from my previous post, I want to delve deeper into a critical challenge plaguing the retail industry: the lack of interoperability between various technology systems. Disparate systems create data silos, hindering a holistic view of the customer journey and hampering operational efficiency. This fragmentation translates into real-world consequences: Frustrated Customers: Inconsistent experiences across online and in-store channels erode customer trust and satisfaction. Limited Innovation: Difficulty integrating new technologies restricts the ability to adapt to evolving consumer trends. High IT Costs: Maintaining multiple, non-integrated systems is a significant financial burden. Inventory Challenges: Disconnected Inventory management systems lead to inaccuracies in stock levels, resulting in stockouts or overstock situations. Increased Security Risks: Scattered data across various platforms increases the vulnerability to security breaches. This can lead to missed sales opportunities, excess inventory costs, and, ultimately, decreased profitability. The Path to a Unified Retail Ecosystem. The solution lies in fostering a unified retail ecosystem. Imagine a seamlessly connected platform that enables: Seamless Data Exchange: Streamlined data flow provides a comprehensive understanding of your customers and business operations. Process Automation: Repetitive tasks become automated, freeing your team to focus on strategic initiatives. Centralized Management: Gain complete control over your retail operations from a unified platform. Enhanced Customer Experience: Deliver a personalized and consistent experience across all touchpoints. Reduced Costs: Streamlined operations and improved efficiency lead to significant cost savings. Enhanced Security: Centralized data management and robust security protocols mitigate security risks. I'm thrilled to announce that I'm actively working on a solution to bridge this interoperability gap! Stay tuned for a major update later this week where I'll unveil more about my vision for a unified platform. However, before I share the specifics, I'd love to hear from you. What are the biggest challenges you've faced due to fragmented retail technology systems? By understanding your pain points, we can collectively work towards building a future where retail tech empowers businesses to thrive and customers to enjoy a seamless and joyful shopping experience. #innovation

In many organizations, tool adoption decisions are made at the departmental level, operating in isolation from the broader enterprise strategy. But this siloed approach creates what can only be described as a fragmented archipelago of systems—each effective in its small realm but disjointed in the greater organizational map. The issue with that is that different departments prioritize their immediate needs, often leading to overlapping functionalities. For example, while one team adopts a new ITSM tool, another purchases a specialized Asset Management tool, neither of which integrate seamlessly. >> The problem: Organizational culture often lacks a centralized governance framework to align these decisions. In some cases, there’s also resistance to collaboration, as teams focus on their immediate goals rather than enterprise-wide efficiency. These siloed decisions multiply redundancies and create integration headaches, The disconnect between IT priorities and business objectives is a tale as old as the modern enterprise. IT teams often focus on operational needs, such as uptime and system performance, while business units emphasize cost-efficiency and user experience. The result? Tools that solve one problem but create ten others.

Mid-market fire protection businesses face unique tech challenges. 1. Outdated Financial Systems Many mid-market companies still rely on legacy financial systems that don’t integrate with other areas. When your financial package can’t talk to your operational, CRM, or service software, it restricts visibility into your cash flow and revenue streams. This lack of integration adds friction to daily operations and holds the entire business back. 2. Disconnected Platforms Moving away from pen, paper, and spreadsheets is a start, but having multiple software tools that don’t communicate creates a new set of issues. For example, if your CRM, scheduling, and financial systems don’t sync, data entry becomes duplicated and errors increase. Integration here is essential for better efficiency, data accuracy, and streamlined workflows. 3. Recurring Revenue Bottlenecks Recurring revenue is a key area of growth and profitability, but it can become a bottleneck if not supported by the right tech. For example: Are your inspection and service systems part of the same data flow as your invoicing? For mid-market companies, solving these tech issues requires integrating your tech stack to streamline your operations and finances. What’s the first step? Audit your tech stack to identify gaps, focus on integration points, and work toward a streamlined platform that can make everything easier. Which issue do you see the most in your business?

Your tech stack is quietly bleeding your company dry. Not through license fees. Not through implementation costs. Through the hidden "integration tax" you pay every day. The real cost of disconnected systems: - Your team's time spent juggling tools - Decisions made on incomplete data - Innovation throttled by technical debt - Opportunities lost to slow response times The solution isn't another integration tool. It's rethinking how we approach business architecture: - Start with workflows, not features - Value subtraction over addition - Measure integration costs like technical debt - Build for deletion, not just deployment Take order-to-cash: Do you really need separate systems for orders, invoicing, payments, and reconciliation? Each integration point is a potential failure point. Each data handoff is a chance for errors. Each new tool is another skill your team needs to master. The most valuable digital transformation is sometimes integration or using one platform, and sometimes digital reduction.

Think about how it would feel to walk into a new job and be handed a flip phone for everyday communication. Intentional or not, that single device says a lot about how the company views progress - and its people. Most of us navigate daily life with effortless consumer tech: 🔹Movies stream from our pockets 🔹Maps reroute in real time 🔹Payments clear in seconds Yet inside many enterprises, mission-critical processes still move with fax-machine noise as the soundtrack. [Dial-up, anyone?] The disconnect isn't a minor annoyance, either. Employees hear it as a loud statement of value. And that perception carries real business costs, too. In Adobe's "Future of Time" study, 70% of Gen Z employees said they would leave a job for access to better tools- an early warning for firms hoping to attract the largest incoming cohort in the workforce. It's not just future risk, either. One recent survey found that 36% of employees have already considered quitting because of a poor technology experience, and many operate at only 60% of their potential thanks to slow or fragmented systems. So what happens when internal x external reporting falls behind? 🔹Recruiting stalls - Top talent equates outdated workflows with limited growth. HR x Talent Acquisition leaders just entered the chat. 🔹 Development shrinks - Hours lost to manual tie-outs crowd out learning; curiosity gives way to burnout. L&D leadership would like a word. 🔹 Innovation slows - Leaders can't fund new ideas while teams reconcile last month's numbers manually. When finance, risk, legal or sustainability teams modernize processes on Workiva, they solve more than the numbers-and-narrative problem. They gain work tech that more closely mirrors life tech. One connected platform for data, narrative, and audit trail. Live, single-source visibility - no version chase. Automated workflows that return time, and critically, headspace. That's called "Liberated Capacity"- and it shows up where it matters: In interview rooms - Modern tools meet modern expectations. Skip-level conversations- People have time to grow, not just grind. Idea and innovation pipelines- The basics run themselves, so innovation can run faster. If your team reclaimed even one hour a week now being lost to tech drag, which strategic problem could you finally prioritize - and solve- first? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PS This 📸 is me and my 10-year-old, fueling the machines. She has very little frame of reference for doing processes manually where there's technology to automate them. I'm not even sure she knows what Google is, since her first stop at finding information is her ChatGPT app. Just sayin'

Met with a CPA firm last month. Their managing partner was furious. They'd outsourced document preparation to save money. On paper: 50% cost reduction. Reality? Total workflow chaos. Their offshore team couldn't access their document management system directly. Every file transfer required manual downloads, uploads, and version tracking. Client information lived in separate systems. Nothing connected. "We're saving on hourly rates but burning time on file transfers, format corrections, and version control," their operations manager explained. The disconnection disaster by the numbers: - 3.5 hours daily wasted on manual file transfers  - 22% of documents requiring rework due to version confusion  - 4 different communication platforms to manage simple questions. Our managed services approach eliminated the integration gap: - Direct, secure access to core systems with proper permission controls  - Unified workflow automation connecting onshore and offshore teams  - Customized API connections between previously siloed platforms Within 45 days, their entire process transformed. Document completion time decreased 41%. Disconnected processes aren't just annoying. They're systematic profit killers. Is your outsourced team truly integrated into your workflow? Or are you paying premium rates for endless digital handoffs? #cpafirms  #finance  #businessgrowth

Imagine this: You need to generate an org-wide turnover report. But payroll data is in one system, recruiting numbers are in another, and performance reviews? Buried in a third tool. Suddenly, you're spending hours (or days!) pulling reports, cross-checking spreadsheets, and manually fixing inconsistencies. Sound familiar? This is HR 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻—and it’s a major roadblock for SMBs. When payroll, recruiting, performance, and other HR functions live in disconnected systems, the results aren’t pretty: 🔴 𝗗𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 & 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 – Different platforms = different versions of the truth. 🔴 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲-𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 – HR teams waste hours reconciling reports instead of focusing on strategic work. 🔴 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿𝘀 – Data mismatches lead to compliance risks and poor decision-making. Here’s the thing: 𝟳𝟭% 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗮 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝘆𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝟴% 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲, 𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮.🤯 Why? Because siloed systems make it nearly impossible to get a clear, accurate view of your workforce. If HR can’t trust its data, how can it drive business impact? It’s time to rethink disconnected HR tech stacks and move toward 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱, 𝗔𝗜-𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 that unify data and unlock real insights. How does your HR team tackle data silos? HRPartner.ai™

Chatbots, AI Leasing Agents, Multiple Contact Forms, ILS Calendar Schedulers...Is anyone else seeing the issue here? Too many outside solutions are involved in your first contact with your prospects. ▪️Multiple ILSs with their own contact form that has to feed into your CRM and/or your AI Agent. ▪️The property website has a Contact Us form that feeds into your CRM and/or AI Agent. ▪️Your website's chatbot is a separate widget that feeds into your CRM and/or AI Agent. ▪️Then there's FB, IG, X, and so on. How many of those leads/prospects are not making it into your CRM or PMS? Too often, these leads—potential residents—get lost in the shuffle because multiple contact forms are either not integrated or have broken connections. A prospect fills out a form, asks a question, or schedules a tour, and then... crickets. The data doesn’t sync, the follow-up doesn’t happen, and the lead is gone. There are too many connection points to maintain. There's just too many things that can go wrong. Has anyone found a single-point contact solution that can be used on multiple sites/social media? Or at least one that combines most of them? I’m curious—is anyone else running into this issue? Are you finding lost leads because of disconnected systems?

It doesn't matter if you're a digital agency with cutting-edge tech. If your HR tech stack is outdated, you're defaulted to inefficiency. → And don't even get me started on paper-based processes... → Disconnected systems. → Manual data entry. You're operating on yesterday's terms. The worst part? You might not even realize it. Are countless hours being wasted on tasks that could be automated? Does it have to be this way, though? Let's flip that on its head. I recently helped a digital agency client revolutionize their HR tech stack. Here's what we did: 1. Assessed the current situation: → Determined areas for improvement. → Identified pain points and bottlenecks. → Evaluated existing tools and processes. 2. Implemented an integrated HRIS: → Streamlined onboarding and offboarding processes. → Automated leave management and time tracking. → Centralized employee data management. 3. Introduced an ATS (Applicant Tracking System): → Simplified recruitment processes. → Improved candidate experience. → Enhanced collaboration among hiring teams. 4. Integrated all systems: → Eliminated duplicate data entry. → Created a single source of truth for HR data. → Ensured seamless data flow between platforms. You don't need to stay stuck with outdated HR tech. Step back. Evaluate your current stack. Just like my client, who now operates with unprecedented efficiency and insight. Prior to our collaboration? It was a constant struggle with disjointed systems and manual processes. They've got control now, and we're helping them leverage HR tech to drive business growth. Take control today.