All My Systems

All My Systems Increasing customer happiness and improving business insight. We provide Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Data Anlaysis and web design expertise to businesses.

04/09/2026

Most software demos are rigged....and most buyers don't spot it.

The data in that demo is spotless! No duplicates, nothing half filled in, no spreadsheet someone's been maintaining since 2019.

Your business doesn't look like that. It never will.

What I really enjoy is when someone says, right, I've got this spreadsheet, what can you do with it? Or here's our system, it's full of duplicates, how would you make that work?

We were once asked to prove a system could handle millions of records. So we loaded in millions of records. That's a far more useful hour than a polished walkthrough.

And if the data goes in messy, that's fine. That's the interesting bit...how do we bulk edit? How do we bulk export? What tools are there to get it back into decent shape so the reports actually mean something?

So before your next demo, ask if you can put some of your own data in. Anonymised if you need to.

The answer tells you a fair bit on its own.

02/09/2026

After 20 plus years in business, one of the best things that has happened to me is that I've developed an understanding of how I learn.

I like to try and be curious, and learn something new each day, whether it be in a business or personal context.

What I've found is that it encourages others in the business to learn and progress their skills too.

It also has a knock on effect because people work better with systems, communicate better and work with customers better too and generally become more efficient and effective at work.

But the most important thing is that it brings new ideas and ways of thinking so that instead of going stale after being in the business for a while - 'Can we introduce this?' 'Why do we do y when we can do z more effectively?'

If you want to get a fresh perspective on your business, try these three things:
1. Ask your newest starter what looked odd in their first fortnight (before they have go used to it)
2. Pick a process a month and have the person who runs it explain why it's done like that. If no-one knows - that's your answer
3. When someone challenges a process, thank them out loud - people will want to do what gets rewarded.

Small changes compound over time and help the business to grow and your team develop too which is a good for everyone.

Your normal process is probably fine. It's the exceptions that are running your business.Most processes work fine, right...
28/08/2026

Your normal process is probably fine. It's the exceptions that are running your business.
Most processes work fine, right up until something changes.

A rush job. Something out of stock. A customer who needs it done slightly differently this time.

That's when someone sorts it. A phone call, a note in a spreadsheet, a "just this once".
And it becomes routine because the workaround usually works. So it happens again. And again.

Before long, that's not the exception any more. That's the process. It's just never been written down.

I see this a lot with the businesses I work with. The official version is clean and sensible. The real one lives in a few people's heads and a shared inbox.

Neither version is wrong exactly. But only one of them is true.

So next time something needs "a bit of extra handling", have a proper look at what actually happens. Not the fantasy version, but the real one.

What's the "just this once" that keeps happening in your business?

26/08/2026

I had someone tell me their system was rubbish and needed replacing. Turned out, it wasn't the system.

It happens often; someone's convinced their system's the problem, when really, it's how it's being used.

You go through the whole palaver of moving to a new system, spend the time, spend the money, put everyone through the upheaval, but you land in the same place. Same problems, different login screen.

So before anyone signs off on a system change, I always encourage people to properly understand what they've already got. Talk to the users. Go through the use cases. Really get under the skin of it.

You want to know: why isn't it giving us the functionality we need? What are we doing off system that we should be doing on it? And what's that actually costing us?

That analysis is never wasted, even if you do end up moving systems eventually. It's exactly the groundwork you'd need anyway.

Changing systems is a big ask. Staff time, data migration, cost, inconvenience, the lot. So only do it once you've run your current system properly, in the most optimal way it's capable of, and it's still not working for you.

Your old system might just be fine. Give it a bit of love first and see where you land.

Your next growth idea needs a stop rule before it needs a budget.A few years back, I tried to accelerate our growth befo...
21/08/2026

Your next growth idea needs a stop rule before it needs a budget.

A few years back, I tried to accelerate our growth before we were really ready.

We had more work coming in. Good problem to have. But quoting, handovers and customer updates were still held together by people remembering things.

For a while, it was fine. Then it got busy...

When the market shifts, it is easy to jump at the next idea. More stock. A new service.

Before you spend much, agree:

• What would make us carry on?
• What would make us change it?
• What would make us stop?

Like trying one dish before changing the whole menu.

I believe stopping early is better than keeping a project alive because nobody wants the awkward conversation. What is your stop rule?

19/08/2026

You wanted a Transit van.

Somehow, you’ve ended up looking at a Rolls-Royce.

That’s a classic with systems.

You start with a fairly straightforward problem. Maybe quoting is taking too long, people are checking stock in three places, or invoices are getting held up because someone has to chase the right spreadsheet.

But then the scope starts growing.

Before long, you’re looking at a system built for a business operating across seven countries, with multiple companies and all sorts going on.

It might be a very good system. It just might not be right for you.

And it's expensive. More setup. More training. More things to maintain. More chance that the team just sees it as another job to do.

Avoid this by going back to the original brief. What were you actually trying to fix?

Start there. Get that working. You can always add more later if you really need it.

A system should make the day to day less painful, not turn it into a bigger project.

Your old system might be just fine.Sometimes the problem isn’t in the system. It could be how it’s being used in the fir...
14/08/2026

Your old system might be just fine.

Sometimes the problem isn’t in the system. It could be how it’s being used in the first place.

And you can end up going down a road that takes you to a new system with exactly the same problems.

Before making that decision, spend some time understanding what you’ve already got.

Speak to the users. Go through the use cases. Look at:

-What the system isn’t solving for you
-What people are doing off-system that should be on it
-What those workarounds are costing the business

That analysis is massively helpful either way.

If you do need to change systems, you’ve already built the foundations for doing it properly.

But if you don’t need to change, stick with what you’ve got and give it some love.

Changing systems is a big overhaul. Staff time, data migration, cost and, sometimes, a fair bit of inconvenience.

Make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons.

12/08/2026

Fast growth is often just slow problems arriving all at once.

I’ve fallen into the temptation myself. You see a business quite similar to yours and think, “I could grow mine to that level in that time frame.”

But you’re often wanting things that are beyond where you are as a business at the minute.

When you try to grow too quickly, your systems usually are not mature enough to deal with it. You have not gone through the pain points at each stage, adapted the process, and learned what needs to change.

And you can't really skip those stages.

The people you start with might not be the people you finish with at the next stage either. Their capability might be right for where you are now, but not where the business needs to be later on. That’s not a criticism. It’s just growth.

So always steady progress over rapid growth.

Learn from each stage. Sort the people, process and systems as you go.

In two, three or four years’ time, you will probably be way ahead of where you would have been if you had gone for fast growth plus problems.

You're still running your business at 9pm. Not on a laptop. In your head.Did that order ship? Have we invoiced the big j...
07/08/2026

You're still running your business at 9pm. Not on a laptop. In your head.

Did that order ship? Have we invoiced the big job?What did we quote them in March?

You can’t do a thing about any of it until morning. But you’re carrying it anyway.

People often ask for “one screen” where they can see everything.

One place to look, and you know where things stand.

But it isn’t really about software.

It’s about what you stop having to hold in your head.

What I tend to find is that the person carrying the most is usually the owner or manager.

Everything routes through you.

“Where’s that up to?”

“Have they paid?”

“Who’s dealing with this one?”

So you become the single version of the truth. Which is a horrible place to be, because you can never really switch off.

A simple thing I’d try:

For one week, jot down every question you get asked more than twice a day.

You’ll spot the pattern fast.

Things like:

-Where’s that order up to?
-Have they paid?
-Who’s looking after this customer?
-What did we agree on price?
-Then pick the one you get asked most.

Decide where the honest answer is going to live. Tell the team that’s where they look before they ask you.

You’ve not bought anything or changed a system. You’ve just taken one loop out of your head.

Do that with three questions and hopefully the evenings get quieter.

What’s the question that follows you home?

05/08/2026

A big consultancy will never tell you your project is too small for them.

They can't, really. They've got targets to hit, and so what starts as a straightforward system for five users can quickly turn into something built for thirty.

And here's the thing. If you need a simple system for five users, then you need a simple system for five users. Even if you'll be at six or seven in five years, you're still not going to need something built for thirty plus.

From my experience, it's the same as any other kind of advice. When you want legal help, you don't march straight up to the Big Four. There are sensible levels in between, and you pick the one that fits.

So right-size your supplier. Match them to:
-the size and capability of the system you actually need
-what your team can realistically do with it
-where you'll genuinely be in five years (the real version, not the fantasy one)

Get that right and you tend to find the overscoping just doesn't creep in.

Now, if you're turning over £30, £50, £80 million plus, then yes, the Big Four might be exactly right for you. But be honest about which camp you're in before you sign anything.

Best fit beats biggest name, nearly every time.

So what's held you back before, the worry of going too small, or the pull of a bigger name?

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