Cloud EPC: Solving the Software Ease of Use Problem
Once the decision was made to transform Cloud EPC from a simple progress tracking system housed in Microsoft Access to a cloud based enterprise project management and project controls system, we sought to determine the key industry needs that needed solving. After numerous interviews with industry executives, market studies, and discussions with frustrated users, one constant frustration and request was very clear…
“Please develop one integrated system that all of our team members can actually use. We are tired of overly complicated systems that result in our teams going back to Excel spreadsheets.”
We were surprised and yet completely understanding of the frustrations we heard. For years our team served as subject matter in a wide range of industry leading software packages, and we went most of our time explaining how to use numerous unnecessarily complicated features to our colleagues. However, despite the fact we understood the issue, we were more curious as to why the issue existed to begin with. Is it too difficult to build a powerful system with a simple easy-to-use interface?
Here are the 3 key things were discovered:
- A vast majority of the industry leading systems were born in the 1990’s leveraging what is now considered significantly outdated technology.
- A number of major software packages are not home grown but rather a product of numerous company acquisitions. It is difficult to integrate a seamless user experience when you are merging together a number of stand-alone software packages.
- Software organizations are really talented in the art of selling. Numerous organizations we spoke to said “we were told the software would…”. Fill in the blank.
We had our hands full. We needed to find a way to compete with the power of industry dominate software applications while also trying to make it user friendly so that organizations experience high adoption rates and truly benefit from the system. So what did we do?
First, we decided to determine and exclude the bells and whistles that simply aren’t necessary or would only be used by 1 out of 1,000 clients. In order to simplify a software system, you must place emphasis on making the features that are used on a daily basis extremely intuitive. That is what we have done with Cloud EPC. We love the 80/20 rule. In this case, 80% of the daily system use is driven by about 20 key features and functionality. We made those 20 features so simple and intuitive that nobody would want or need to go back to Excel spreadsheets. But just in case, we made just about everything import and export friendly with downloadable Excel templates.
We also decided early on that we would never grow through acquisition. Is it more cost-effective in the long term and perhaps allows for the capture of market share quicker? Most likely. Will it ultimately sacrifice the integrity of the system? We think so. Everything you experience in Cloud EPC was born from the Cloud EPC development team.
Lastly, we decided that we were going to change the software sales approach. Now, some may thing this is stupid because why fix what is not broken? We like to think of it as innovating and attempting to disrupt an age old practice. How so? We make Cloud EPC extremely accessible. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to review screenshots of a software, let alone get in the system and experience it for yourself with no constraints? With Cloud EPC we let you test drive the software. In fact, we encourage you to load and track a real project. You can also heck out the rest of our website which includes screenshots and featured videos. We are proud of our intuitive and beautiful design are not afraid to show it off.
Cloud EPC takes an unconventional approach to what has been a conventional market for so long. Yet it seems that is where the long lasting frustrations with Engineering, Procurement & Construction software packages stem from. We are excited, and proud, to offer a truly integrated end to end solution to the market that has already establish a track record of high user adoption rates.
We would love to hear from you so please contact us or request a demo at your earliest convenience.