When Did Business Become So Complicated?

When Did Business Become So Complicated?

Simplifying business processes probably isn’t at the top of many business owners’ to-do lists.

Usually, we’re doing the opposite.

We add another piece of software.

Create another spreadsheet.

Introduce another process.

Set up another automation.

And before we know it, completing what should be a relatively straightforward task requires three systems, two logins and someone called Karen who is apparently the only person who knows how it all works.

Sound familiar?

Complicated Doesn’t Mean Better

There’s something about business that makes us believe a sophisticated solution must be better than a simple one.

It isn’t always true.

Technology can be fantastic. Good systems can save enormous amounts of time, while automation can transform repetitive tasks.

However, every new process also adds another layer.

Eventually, those layers can start making the business less efficient rather than more efficient.

That’s when it’s worth asking:

Could we just make this simpler?

Look at How Many Steps Things Take

Pick something your business does regularly.

Perhaps it’s onboarding a new client.

Booking an appointment.

Processing a payment.

Responding to an enquiry.

Now follow that process from beginning to end.

How many steps are there?

More importantly, how many of those steps are genuinely necessary?

Businesses evolve gradually, so processes often evolve with them. Something gets added to solve one problem, then another step gets added six months later.

Eventually, nobody remembers why half of it exists.

They simply know:

“That’s how we do it.”

Ask the Person Actually Doing the Job

This is one of the simplest ways to uncover unnecessary complexity.

Ask your team:

“What’s the most frustrating process you have to deal with?”

Then listen.

The person doing something every day will usually know exactly where the problems are.

Perhaps they’re entering the same information twice.

Maybe they’re copying information between systems.

Alternatively, they could be waiting for approval on something that doesn’t really need approving.

Sometimes a five-minute conversation uncovers a problem that’s been wasting hours every month.

Your Customers Feel Complicated Processes Too

It’s not only your team who notices.

Your customers do as well.

If booking with you requires numerous steps, they’ll notice.

If they have to provide the same information repeatedly, they’ll notice that too.

And if they need to chase you because information hasn’t travelled properly between different parts of the business, they’ll definitely notice.

From inside the business, you can see the process.

From outside, your customer simply sees hassle.

Don’t Automate a Bad Process

This is a big one.

Before automating something, make sure the underlying process actually makes sense.

Otherwise, you’re simply making an inefficient process happen faster.

For example, if a customer enquiry currently passes through four people before reaching the person who can actually help, automating those four handovers doesn’t necessarily solve the problem.

Perhaps the enquiry should simply reach the right person in the first place.

Technology should remove unnecessary work.

It shouldn’t preserve it.

Sometimes the Best System Is a Human Being

We’re big fans of good technology at LiveLink.

We use it constantly.

But not every problem requires another platform.

Sometimes a customer needs an answer.

Sometimes a decision needs making.

And sometimes two people simply need to speak to each other.

A five-minute conversation can occasionally achieve more than an email chain involving twelve people and 37 replies.

There’s efficiency in simplicity too.

Try the “Why?” Test

The next time you encounter an annoying process, question every step.

Why do we do this?

If the answer is:

“Because we’ve always done it that way…”

keep digging.

Perhaps there’s a perfectly good reason.

However, you might discover that the person who originally needed that spreadsheet left the company in 2021 and nobody has opened it since.

It happens.

Businesses accumulate processes in exactly the same way cupboards accumulate mysterious cables.

Every now and again, you need a clear-out.

Simplifying Doesn’t Mean Starting Again

This doesn’t need to become an enormous project.

In fact, please don’t create a 48-page Business Simplification Strategy.

That would somewhat defeat the point.

Instead, find one unnecessarily complicated process.

Remove one step.

Combine two tasks.

Clarify one responsibility.

Cancel one unused subscription.

Then move onto the next thing.

Small improvements add up surprisingly quickly.

Final Thoughts

Running a business is complicated enough without us making it harder for ourselves.

Of course, some processes genuinely need multiple steps. Some businesses have regulatory requirements, checks or systems that simply cannot be removed.

But plenty don’t.

So if something in your business feels unnecessarily difficult, don’t automatically assume you need another tool, another person or another process.

First ask:

Could this just be simpler?

Quite often, the answer is yes.

How LiveLink Can Help

One of the advantages of bringing somebody new into your business is that they haven’t learned to ignore the complicated bits yet.

At LiveLink Resource, when we begin working with a business, we need to understand how its processes actually work.

As a result, we sometimes spot duplicated tasks, unclear instructions or unnecessarily complicated ways of doing things that have simply become normal over time.

Whether we’re helping with calls, administration, client communication or wider operational support, our aim isn’t to add another layer.

It’s to make life easier.

And sometimes that starts by asking a very simple question:

“Why are we doing it like that?”