Business success requires more than just a good idea and committed staff. The quality of the technology that you use will also be instrumental to your success. Most importantly, your technology solutions should be fit for purpose, providing the functionality and flexibility that you need to deliver competitive services to your clients.
If you want your business to be leaner, more agile, and more successful, then assessing your technology regularly can help you to achieve your goals.
Has Your Technology Hindered Progress in the Past?
Identifying technology failings in the recent past can help you to generate key insights into the performance of your systems. If a technology failure has led to a lost client in the past, then that’s a clear signal that you need to reevaluate your current solutions. If you have had multiple outages with a key piece of software or aspect of your infrastructure, then that is also reason for a complete review of your current technology.
Are You Consulting Your Teams on the Ground?
Does your leadership team have the complete picture when it comes to the usefulness and performance of your technology? An open dialogue with ground-level staff will help you to better understand your software and infrastructure needs. If your teams are struggling to perform with the technology that they have, then you could be losing money and opportunities with clients.
Employees that struggle with inefficient, outdated, or outright improper technology solutions will be less productive, and you will risk losing your best talent to other companies that do things better.
Is Your Technology a Financial Strain?
If you are spending too much on technology maintenance and support, then there’s a good chance that you aren’t using the right solutions for your business. With rapid developments in business software, it’s likely that you could benefit from a complete overhaul in your company.
Investing in more efficient software and hardware solutions could reduce expenditure in the long term.
Do Your Technology Choices Complement Each Other?
Do your technology solutions work together, or is your business running with independent systems that require significant micromanagement to consolidate data and core business functions?
The more independent systems you have, the less efficient your business will be. Multiple independent systems also cost more to maintain. If one system were to fail, would your entire business be impacted?
How Long Has It Been Since Your Last Technology Review?
If you haven’t assessed your technology needs in the last year, then there’s a good chance that your solutions are out of date, or no longer suited to your business needs.
Technology moves at a rapid pace. Faster, more efficient, and more affordable solutions are constantly being developed. Most importantly, business technology solutions are becoming more integrated, so you can cover more tasks with a single solution than you could one or two years ago.
Regular technology reviews will allow you to consolidate your learnings and make the right decisions on future investments.
Are You Consulting with an IT Vendor?
Realistically, you probably don’t have the highly specialized talent within your organization to perform a complete technology assessment. With the help of managed IT services, you could discover new solutions that would never have been in consideration. The latest technology could make your company better able to respond to the needs of your clients, you could have a more productive workforce, and you could spend less to do a better job. Modern technologies can also provide more robust data backup and recovery options, providing a safety net for your company in the worst-case scenario.
Committing to a full technology review today will be one of the most important factors in the continued growth and success of your business.