Every glass business is different: how you plan production, move glass around the factory and ensure everything comes together to deliver on time, in full.
Having developed your own processes and your own ways of working, the shortcomings and inflexibility of your current computer systems will be creating real friction that is felt throughout the business every day.
When you are thinking about the next steps for your business – where you want to innovate and grow – you need to be sure that your core system will support you well. You need it to fit around your needs, not forcing you to change what already works. And you need to be confident that it will continue to adapt as you grow and evolve.
Looking at what you need to properly support your business, there are three key aspects: firstly, how readily it can be configured to meet your specific business and process needs (because we all know the devil is in the detail). Secondly, whether it can be extended cleanly and cost-effectively if your innovation takes you beyond off-the-shelf capabilities. And thirdly, probably the most important of all, is the attitude of the people behind the software: how committed they really are to ensuring the success of their customers.
Any vendor can claim that their product can be adapted to meet your needs, but the reality is, many will try to shoehorn you into their idea of ‘best practice’ once you have committed.
But in the real world you have to work around factors like the work in progress space, finished goods space, and all the tried-and-tested practices that are unique to your company and customer base. The answer isn’t workarounds that create more work for your staff. You need thoughtful product design that bases decision-making on configurable rules, parameters and other settings that are built on decades of working with glass businesses.
In every industry someone has to be the first, whether that is pioneering new products or finding smarter ways of operating. When you are working at the cutting edge, or excelling in a specific niche, you may need new software capabilities that nobody else has thought of.
Some systems are inherently flexible and make it easier, cleaner and more cost-effective to add bespoke functionality. You need to be sure that a new software supplier can add new capabilities that work seamlessly with the rest of the system. They must show they understand what is likely to change in your company and the trends that are reshaping the industry.
While the technical capabilities of any system are important, they are only the start. Some vendors behave as if they have all the answers, that their system embodies ‘best practice’. They have little time for anything which doesn’t fit their worldview. Others take the time to understand the rationale behind the way you work. They seek out the right solution, to underpin your unique strengths while drawing on the proven approaches they have refined across years of working with glass businesses.
In practice, this means getting into the discovery process early on, even before a sale is agreed. A true partner isn’t looking for a quick sale; their priority is to understand your business well enough to configure a solution that will support your journey over the next decade, and more.
At Jotika we are recognised for our flexible, partnering approach, which comes from the business owners and runs through everything we do. We have been providing software to the glass industry for decades and have built the business around solving problems and underpinning the ambitions of our customers.
Substantial parts of our Gtrak software have been developed with customers, breaking new ground and then bringing others along with us. We have formalised our processes for customer discovery and project delivery, and they are all designed to ensure we can be flexible and meet the different needs of our various customers.
If you are dissatisfied with the compromises you have to make with your current business software and want to work with a supplier who puts your best interests first, we'd welcome the chance to talk through your specific challenges, with no obligation.