The tweet below encapsulates where I believe we should be heading in the enterprise software space. We continue to place too much emphasis on the technology and features. Not on the how people will use it, or whether people will use it.

We are in the age of #collaboration between people in global #ecosystems; where #technology is being redefined around people, not processes

— Jeremy Scrivens (@JeremyScrivens) May 3, 2015

We continue to place too much emphasis on technology and features. Not on how people will use it, or whether they will use it.

The future must belong to those technology and software companies that get this. Those that understand that the technology must get out of the way.

The best project I have been involved in was a Finance Transformation Program. It included change management specialists, process specialists, and systems specialists. All working together on an ERP implementation.

However, the outcome and the experience was very different from a ‘traditional’ ERP implementation. A significant focus on process first, and system second. The ability of this approach to shift the mindset of the users, particularly early on, paid dividends later.

However, there is way more to the tweet from Jeremy. His reference to an ecosystem is also important. It is important to understanding how it all connects, relates, and works together to get the result you want.

Don’t be oversold a siloed solution you may or may not need.