Efficiency may be the most commonly used term in enterprise software
marketing - that or "ensure." And not without reason - efficiency is one of
the key value propositions of most enterprise software, from collaboration
tools, to productivity tools, to integration tools and beyond. At a certain
point though, the gains to be achieved from efficiency become smaller and
smaller and of lesser and lesser business significance.
This is resulting in a shift in focus from efficiency to effectiveness. At
times, these goals are twin, but in many cases, they are not - the most
effective allocation of resources may not be the most efficient - at least in
the short-term. Managing an organization with an eye toward effectiveness can
be a challenge, because business metrics are often tied to processes and
other types of "discrete" pieces of work, and how quickly/efficiently they
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