In brief
An SME lets between 5 and 20 hours per week slip away, often without knowing how or where. Time is never lost in big blocks, but in crumbs: a sum of small moments that are part of daily life.
The 7 most common signs : searching for an email several times a day, entering the same information twice, relying on shared Excel files, manually checking what a system should check, multiplying versions of a document, multiplying update meetings, and letting everyone work in their own way.
The good news : these micro-frictions do not require starting by buying an ERP like Odoo. They first require clarity, a minimum of structure and explicit rules. Only then, a tool.
The problem : time is never lost in big blocks, but in crumbs
"Hey, today I'm going to deliberately waste an hour."
Nobody gets up in the morning thinking that
And yet, every SME lets between 5 and 20 hours per week slip away, often without the slightest idea of how or where.
Because it is never one big loss that everyone notices. It is a sum of small moments that are part of daily life.
9h
Informations search, per week
McKinsey : "employees spend on average 1.8 hours a day searching for information"
A few figures
12h
Informations search, per week
IDC : "30% of working time is spent searching for information"
94%
Repetitive tasks
Zapier : "94% of employees perform repetitive tasks, 3 to 10 hours per week"
60%
Work about work
Asana Work Index : "60% of working time is spent on 'work about work"
23 min
Per interruption
Harvard Business Review : each interruption costs on average 23 minutes to return to the same level of concentration
28
Interruptions per day
Around 28 interruptions per day : do the maths
These are micro-frictions, almost invisible, that pile up day after day. And when they become the norm, we no longer even see them.
Here are therefore the 7 most common signs that we see in the companies we support. If you recognise yourself in them: rest assured, it is the daily reality of 90% of organisations.
Sign 1 : searching for an email several times a day
A great classic. The problem is not Outlook or Gmail: it is the absence of a system where information is centralised, organised, and accessible to the whole team.
Searching for an email is not serious. Searching for it three times, or having to rely on a colleague to forward it to us, is a symptom.
Your company suffers from a collective "memory lapse". Nothing is lost, nothing is really shared, everything depends on one person's mailbox.
Sign 2 : entering the same information twice (or more)
Double entry is the invisible toll of a makeshift digitalisation. It never hurts the first time, but it destroys efficiency in the long run.
A few examples :
A client enters data in a form, you re-enter it in your CRM.
You make a quote, you retype everything in the invoice.
You create a list in Excel, you copy it into your accounting software.
Each duplication means:
lost time,
a risk of error,
and a team that ends up thinking "these tools are useless".
Double entry is the number one cause of digital wear and tear in SMEs.
Sign 3 : shared Excel files that break... always at the worst moment
Sign 4 : manually checking what a system should check automatically
Sign 5 : multiplying versions of the same document
Sign 6 : holding meetings where you repeat what has already been said
Sign 7 : everyone has their own method... and it works "more or less"
This is what I call invisible variability: as long as everyone is there and in good shape, it runs smoothly.
But as soon as a person falls ill, leaves, or a new person arrives... the house of cards appears.
It is proof that the company runs thanks to individuals, not thanks to its processes. What is comfortable in the short term becomes dangerous in the medium term.
"Update" meetings exist only to fill a void: information has not circulated naturally in the company.
When work is centralised, traced, documented... meetings are transformed: we no longer take stock of the past, we steer the future.
A meeting whose purpose is to "bring everyone up to speed" is the sign of a system that is not doing its job.
"Final version", "Final version V2", "Final version modified", "Final version really final"...
This is no longer a process. It is fiction. The truth is simple:
If a document exists in several versions, it is because your flow is not orchestrated.
Teams compensate for the absence of a system by creating duplicates, variants, parallel folders... And the more versions there are, the less we know where "the right one" is.
"Hold on, I'll check the stock." "Hold on, I'll see if the invoice has been paid." "Hold on, I'll confirm the delivery date."
This "hold on" seems harmless. But it is the revealer of a dysfunction.
Every manual check is a missed automation.
And when everything depends on human vigilance, everything becomes fragile. Your organisation no longer runs on processes, but on memory.
Everyone has lived through this scene: "Unable to save, the file is already open by someone."
Excel is not the problem. The problem is that a file becomes the nerve centre of a critical process. It is a bit like building the structure of a house with LEGO: it works... until the day it no longer works.
A shared Excel file is not a system. It is a substitute for a system. And it always ends up breaking at the wrong moment.
According to our observation, every SME lets between 5 and 20 hours per week slip away, through small accumulated losses rather than big blocks : information search, repetitive tasks, interruptions.
It is entering the same information several times in different tools : a form then the CRM, a quote then the invoice, an Excel file then the accounting software. It wastes time, increases the risk of error and discourages teams.
Excel itself is not at fault : the problem is that a file becomes the nerve centre of a critical process. It ends up breaking at the wrong moment, like a house built from LEGO.
Not first. You first need clarity, a minimum of structure, explicit rules and a real internal organisation. Only then, a well-chosen and well-introduced tool (such as Odoo) makes productivity take off.
A simple test : what happens when a person falls ill, leaves, or when a new person arrives ? If the house of cards appears, the company runs on individuals rather than on its processes.
Conclusion : crumbs add up (and it costs a lot)
Companies never collapse all at once. They wear down slowly, through the accumulation of small frictions that nobody measures.
The good news ? These micro-frictions do not specifically require starting by buying an ERP like Odoo. They first require :
Clarity,
A minimum of structure,
Explicit rules,
And a real internal organisation.
Only then, a tool. And if this tool is well chosen and well introduced, then yes : productivity takes off.
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How many of these 7 signs
do you recognise ?
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