❗ Especially in SMEs!
In Part 2, I wrote about Mark Cuban’s point that the old mindset around software is fading.
Part 3 looks at the mistake that sits quietly at the center of most SME software problems:
👉 We buy software for its features and only later discover whether it fits the way we actually work.
It’s a familiar story: a tool looks great in the demo, full of clever functions… and then reality sets in. The one thing you really needed — the ability to integrate — isn’t there. And once a system can’t integrate, everything around it becomes heavier: manual entries, copied data, “temporary” fixes that never go away, and people wasting hours on repetition that should never have existed.
👉 This is exactly where Martin Hofmann’s line from The Agentic Enterprise [ https://www.amazon.com/Agentic-Enterprise-Building-Organizations-Autonomously/dp/3033118356/ ] becomes painfully relevant:
“Instead of asking what a system can do, ask what outcome we need.”
If SMEs truly started with outcomes, most of the software they struggle with today would never have been purchased. But feature lists feel concrete and easy to compare, while outcomes feel harder to define — so the wrong decision gets made, again and again.
Cuban’s message ties directly into this. When he says “software is dead,” he’s talking about the end of this feature‑first mentality. Tools that can’t support integrated, AI‑enabled workflows are already outdated — even if they still look modern on the surface.
So Part 3 leaves us with a simple truth:
👉 If the software decision starts with features instead of outcomes, automation won’t just suffer — it won’t happen at all.
Next in Part 4:
What the “Agentic Enterprise” really means for SMEs — without the jargon.
Content Creation💡Conceived and directed by me, 📝 assisted by AI
#SMEs #Automation #DigitalTransformation #AIIntegration #SoftwareSelection #AgenticEnterprise #FutureOfWork #WorkflowDesign
