As Synapse Gaming grows, its business tools need to grow with it. The most recent incarnation of our tools include a home-brewed Customer Relation Management, Project Management, Issue Tracking, and Sale and Accounting system.
Dissatisfied with the business software currently available, either by lack of features, workflow, or price, I decided to invest a little R&D into researching the ideal workflow for our business. Surprisingly our workflow and needs, though seemingly complex, boiled down to a very compact and efficient system. In the time I set aside for research, I managed to design and develop the system - not bad. :)
Now don't get me wrong; I hate wasting time and money reinventing the wheel, but when faced with either counter-intuitive workflow that actually reduces efficiency or ridiculous prices (most worthwhile business software costs $20K+), the situation was all too clear.
In my approach I broke away from the rather annoying trend in business software of developing tools that are overly modularized into units that should, but rarely do, represent entities or departments in the company. These add unnecessary layers, screens, and functionality to the system in an effort to compensate for the fact the system was designed around the software modules and not the actual workflow of the people using it.
Instead our software is 100% workflow driven, and system navigation was kept to an absolute minimum. Understanding our workflow and needs going into the project meant that the back-end of the system was just as simple and efficient as the front-end, making future upgrades, backups, and replication (if the need arises) a snap.
Anyway there's something to be said about having business tools designed specifically for your company's structure and workflow, and considering the project took less time than most people would spend deciding on a 3rd party vendor, it was well worth it.
-John Kabus
Synapse Gaming
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