You’ve done the hard work of buying, building, integrating, and customizing your various OOH advertising departmental software systems, so all of your business operational woes should be remedied, right?
But you’re still experiencing operational pain, it’s likely that you’ve outgrown those systems and the benefits they initially delivered have gone.
How is this possible? With so many new business tools helping you to automate and improve outdoor advertising workflow, the results should be far different. However, using tens of business tools also has its side effects, including high costs, lack of collaboration, and a decrease in productivity.
This article will look into the seven most widespread reasons why your OOH advertising business should run on one software.
1. High Costs
SaaS (Software as a Service) tools often solve one specific problem.
There are special tools for pipeline management, quoting, email marketing, lead nurturing, cold calling, etc.
Each business tool a company uses helps particular team members to better do their work. As a result, they get their work done more quickly and efficiently. However, if you calculate the monthly cost of all the tools you’re using, it could add up to thousands of dollars. The sum can reach staggering heights if you multiply the monthly costs by 12 to calculate the software cost per year.
While too many business tools can seem like a small problem, the high expense isn’t the only issue. There are additional disadvantages that make an increasing number of companies reconsider their use of online tools.
2. Disparate Information Across Departments
You’re likely spending untold hours managing data spread across multiple software systems. Just think back to the last time you had to produce a comprehensive report. Multiple open applications. Data organized in ways that only make sense within the confines of that application. How many hours do you or your staff spend each month reconciling these various data sets?
Edge1 cuts these hours dramatically. With a single home for all company data and a singular process to extract and make sense of the data and you’ll benefit from significant time savings as well as increased interdepartmental coordination.
3. Time-Consuming Setup Process
Many companies acquire new tools in the quest of increasing their team’s efficiency. What they fail to notice is the setup cost of each new tool. While many software vendors sell their product with the promise of a 5-minute setup, it takes a lot more time in reality. Some software may take three to 60 months to implement. You need to import all your data, invite new users, explain how the tool works, etc.
Usually, new software implementation is handled by a team leader whose time is exceedingly valuable. Later on, all team members need to devote some time to getting used to the new tool.
Adopting new software costs a lot more than marked on the company’s pricing page. It costs hours of your team’s time, often worth thousands of dollars in hidden resource costs.
4. Different Revenue Report Versions from Sales and Finance Departments
When using multiple software systems, getting accurate revenue or site occupancy can be an acute monthly pain point. Extracting the data, then standardizing the calculations and formulas into one accounting template from various applications, transactions, and sub-ledgers, is not the best way to do it. Producing information in multiple ways to ensure no one sees the information they should not access also is an issue.
With Edge1 Software, financial reporting is an automated routine that reduces dependency on patching together data. It also better controls what should be seen and what should be excluded since everything is in the same system and robust access management controls for such access restrictions.
The payoff is better, more timely reporting with fewer resources, and less time spent on the data integration required for custom reports.
5. Inadequate Overview
The more digital your business, the more business software you’re inclined to use. Small 50 people, companies might be using well over 20 tools without even realizing it.
Another problem with many small tools that fail to integrate is the lack of a clear overview.
Unless they use even more tools to gather the data from the currently used tools and software,
management has no reliable summary of the company’s performance.
Depending on the number of tools you use, the management might be struggling to get informative reports and monitor KPIs.
To access various business metrics, managers need to consult all the niche business tools.
All the hours spent on searching for information could be devoted to strategic planning and
the implementation of high ROI activities.
6. Multiple Customer and Other Departmental Databases
Having to extract data from various siloed databases is bad. When these various databases can’t or don’t effectively communicate with each other, your ability to share, improve, and enhance efficiency is limited. A failure to share relevant information across departments poisons overall team and departmental coordination.
If this is happening at your company, it’s time to switch to Edge1 to encourage data integration as well as stronger alliances between your various teams and departments.
7. Paperwork and Data Input Redundancies
Human error happens. People enter data incorrectly, sometimes doubling, sometimes omitting. If you’re using a hodgepodge of software solutions, the overlap is likely if not assured. Overlap increases the potential for human error and unreliable, inconsistent data, and combining inconsistent data with the need for reentry into multiple systems is a recipe for confusion.
If you’re constantly questioning the reliability of data in your business systems, it’s time for Edge1.
What Are You Waiting for?
As the centralized collection point for all of your out-of-home advertising company’s data, Edge1 facilitates enhanced coordination between business processes, teams, and departments. With all users operating from the same system, Edge1 promotes collaboration and increased visibility. You’ll also minimize the risk of inconsistent and unreliable data. As all processes will be sourcing from and reporting to the same data, your company can save precious time and resources leaving you free to pursue new opportunities.
If your outdoor media company has been dealing with any of the aforementioned challenges, there’s no reason you should continue to struggle with a patchwork of software systems. Moving to a new system may seem like an overwhelming task, especially after investing so much in current software solutions. But not remedying the strain of operating with multiple software systems will ultimately cost more.
If you are unclear about whether or not a new system is the right for your business or are curious about the replacement process, contact us. We'll be happy to give you guidance on the best decision for your needs.
