Standardization can facilitate the daily tasks which you perform at your workplace. It ensures safety and rationalizes operations. The process of standardization makes sure that the products and services are appropriate for the intended use. It also ensures the compatibility and interoperability of products and services. The international market accepts products which are manufactured according to the pre-defined standards. Hence, by following the standards while manufacturing the products, we can eliminate many trade barriers.

No doubt, streamlining the workflows can be very beneficial for productivity but along with that, it is also important that you standardize your software in order to improve the security and productivity of your firm. In this article, we have listed the reasons why it is essential to standardize your software:

1. Better security

  If the software products and its versions launched by a company are mismatched, then it is very difficult to maintain up-to-date security. Companies keep on releasing new security patches e.g. Adobe has recently released 71 critical patches in one month. A user can face difficulties like remote code execution and security bypassing when these security patches expire. Similar threats are posed by the End-of-Life programs, as support and security updates are discontinued for the older version of the software. 

When a company chooses to standardize their software then the IT team can focus on protecting the software solution. This can be done by updating versions completely, implementing patches when required, and maintaining the security of the solution properly. Hence, this makes the user less vulnerable to viruses and threats.

2. Make compliance easier

It is not easy to maintain compliance with multiple software simultaneously. There are about 85% of organizations which are not following the license compliance policies. The licensing terms of most of the software agreements are very complicated; that is why it is hard to fully follow the set of policies.

The problem arises when these difficult to meet policies cannot be fulfilled by the companies. Firms then engage their users inexpensive and time-consuming audits. These audits do not only take a lot of resources but also require patience. On the other hand, if there is only one solution which the company needs to monitor then it becomes easier for the employees to maintain the compliance. Hence, standardization is a great way of reducing the risk of non-compliance.

3. Increased productivity

  Productivity is affected badly when only limited employees can get access to the software solution. For example, if only a small number of people at the office have got access to edit the PDF files then it will create work hurdles for not only the employees who do not have access to the PDF software but will also create issues for those who can access the software. Both parties would not be able to focus on their tasks which will lead to less productivity and wastage of time. If your employees need to edit and convert the PDF files on a daily basis then you must provide them an easy access to PDF solution. Nowadays, there are many PDF editing software that is also equipped with conversion features such as PPT to PDF Converter and vice versa. 

You can empower your employees by providing them access to a scalable, standardized solution. We have many examples of companies who have increased their productivity by allowing their employees to access the standardized solution.

4. Improved collaboration

The different versions of software may hinder the collaboration across the employees. For creating a collaborative environment, it is very important to have a standardized software solution. When one standardized software will be available to all employees then they can collaborate easily as they will have access to the same tools. Hence, the employees can easily share, edit, and annotate documents in a format which is accessible to everyone. For example, if the same version of PDF software is used across the organization then the employees can view, edit and review the PDF files easily and quickly. Nowadays, you can also generate PDF file by just one click. Such as for creating a PDF of a spreadsheet, you can use Excel to PDF Converter online.

The insurance company, Swiss, reported that after re-standardizing on a PDF software solution for its over 9,000 users, the company witnessed a significant increase in user collaboration. The standardization does not only help in allowing the teams to work efficiently but it also makes the employees to be more innovative.

5. Less burden on the IT team

When the software solutions are not standardized then there is a huge burden on the IT team. The IT team must solve the issues of non-compliance, bug fixes, and support tickets. By standardizing the software solutions, the IT team can maintain and monitor the solutions in a more organized manner. Thus, this helps in creating more resources. With increased resources, the user training can be enhanced which helps in seamless user adoption and smarter workflows. It also results in decreasing the helpdesk tickets on long-term.

The first step to standardization is to choose the software that best suits your business. Every business has different requirements. So, you can choose the software according to the needs of your organization. The software that works for one business may not fit the other. This checklist can help you in choosing the right software for your firm.

Moreover, you should choose the software that can provide you excellent change management guidance. Most of the companies do not standardize the software because they get afraid of spending the time and resources on switching software. However, change management guidance can help you in this regard. If you know any other benefit of standardizing the software, you can share with us in the comment box below. Also, do not forget to share your experience of standardizing a software solution.