There is a Strategy to Making Smart Technology Investments
A lot of companies are making large technology investments, in fact, if you are here now, you are probably thinking about making such an investment for your own business. One problem that growing companies have is identifying and investing in the right technology. Today, we thought we would give you a couple of tips on how to go about making technology investment decisions that will be the most advantageous for your business.
Why Invest in Technology?
Before we get into some tips that can help you make the best technology investment decisions, we want to talk about why companies are investing in technology. In the small business world, most business owners feel as if they are constantly falling behind if they don’t continuously improve their technology. In fact, according to a poll conducted in 2021, over half of respondents to the small business poll thought they were spending too little on their technology, while only about 20 percent felt that they were spending too much. Obviously, these are just opinions, but it can give you a look into the game of catch-up that a lot of small business owners are constantly playing. Some of the reasons small businesses invest in technology include:
- Integration of new systems/applications to advance efficiency
- Cybersecurity
- Managing and analyzing data
- Upgrading systems
- Upgrade for younger workforce
- Expanding reach/commerce to Internet
- Managing building IT complexities
There are many others, but if you are like the over half of small business owners that feel like stagnation in your tech is stagnation in your business, finding the right technology to invest in is imperative to not wasting capital. Let’s take a look at three strategies that work to identify the technology your business needs.
Look Inward
The first thing you should do before making any technology-procurement decisions is assess what problems your business has that could possibly be fixed by adding new technology. Do you pay a lot of money for a certain part of your business that a new tech investment could reduce over time? Are you lacking efficiency in one part of your business? You will want to identify the pain points of your business and then take some time to see what type of investment works best for you. Do you need to see a rapid ROI? Technology can be a solution to your problem, but it can just as easily become another problem if you don’t plan ahead.
Look to Deliver More Value
Your company is unique, and if you consider it, it has a unique offering. Identifying what unique value your business presents to your customers is a great place to start when looking to implement technology to help your business. You will want to explore how new technology could help you differentiate your product and service delivery and then make decisions on those investments to improve your value proposition to customers. After all, if your customers won’t pay more after a massive innovation project, other than market sustainability, why would you want to put that kind of stress on your business?
Get Creative
You are in the business of creating great outcomes for your customers so that they continue to buy your products and services. Why then would you try to develop and integrate technology that could end up costing you a lot of money? Nowadays, there are many technologically-based organizations that your business can partner with to ensure that you are able to move operations forward. Whether that be organizations that specialize in virtualized hardware, managed software, or simply getting your team the coffee they need, there are technology-based solutions to nearly every business problem.
That’s where the IT professionals at Net Activity come in, we handle all manners of technology-related issues that you can have with your business. Give us a call today at 216-503-5150 to have a conversation about how to get your technology working for you.
