subject: Top 10 Mistakes Business Owners Make With Their Technology [print this page] If you have not thought about just how important a regular IT audit & review is for your company, you are leaving too much up to chance. IT is an integral part of your business. Give it the appropriate focus, budget and consideration and see how it can add value to the overall strategic plan.
2. Does your technology match your business plan or did you try to make your business plan fit with whatever technology you had?
If your growth strategy requires a team of independently operating sales reps, make sure your IT supports that in the most cost and time efficient way possible. If your work flow is more of a process that must go from person A to person B to person C, then your IT design should match your work flow. If it does not, it is costing you time and money. Avoid the mistake of making your business strategy fit into your existing IT set up. That could be a devastating move for your business. With the help of a trusted IT Advisor, you can find and implement solutions that support your business needs, add value to your company and simplify daily operations for your entire team.
3. Is Your Technology Secure?
Your threats might include:
* A virus
* A network wide virus
* A fire
* The failure of your single back up drive
* Employee theft of data
* And just plain hack for the fun of it hackers
Your technology should be secure. Many businesses under invest in this area and too many come to regret it. One unfortunate incident can prove to severely outweigh the cost of investing in appropriate security.
4. Are You Under Utilizing Technology In Your Business?
Have you purchased the right amount of technology or power for your needs? Are your processors slowing down your team? Is your server scalable? Do you continue to invest in an antiquated model when the cost/benefit ratio for a new system makes fiscal sense. Technology is an investment and can give your company a considerable competitive edge. Avoid overspending on unnecessary technology just because you are enamoured with such so called toys, as is the case with some rare folks. But do strike the correct balance that will give your business the IT power it needs to excel forward.
5. You bought what? How are you planning on using that technology?
You might be surprised to learn that there are cases of business owners purchasing technology and then never using it. It usually results from an impulse buy, a high pressure sales presentation of a sale price. If your technology purchase was not part of strategic business plan, it may not fit in. If your technology purchase was the result of a sale, it may be the wrong technology. Even if it is the right piece of equipment or software, simply purchasing it does note necessarily mean that you have thought enough about how to:
* Make it work with what you already have in place
* How to properly install and configure it
* How to train your team on using it properly/to full potential
* Porting your data over to it
Avoid frivolity with IT purchases. Work with your IT Advisor to make planned purchases and implementations.
6. Don't Get Sold
If you go out shopping for IT, or give most IT departments a budget, I assure you they will find something to spend it on. It may not be what your business needs, but many already have a new, exciting or cutting edge solution that they have been drooling over and dying to work with. Is it what best suits your needs? Maybe. Maybe not. Will it be the simplest most effective solution for your needs, and easy enough for all you employees to use? Are you sure about that?
It comes down to this: You do not want business processes to fit in to your technology. You want the right technology to support your business processes in the most efficient way possible. An independent IT Consultant who will not gain financially from a purchase recommendation is a wise choice here. Such an IT Advisor will not sell you anything, but rather help you navigate your options and purchase the IT you need.
7. Failing To Outsource
There comes a time in every new business when the cost benefit of managing your IT yourself diminishes to the point of no return. At that time, outsourcing might just be the sensible option. In mid size companies, outsourcing or having an IT firm on call as needed helps balance costs and necessary IT support. In a large company, outsourcing can significantly reduce the IT budget with Service Level Agreements.
Service Level Agreements are suitable for many companies, giving them a fixed cost for enough IT service to efficiently run their business. The best part is that Service Level Agreements cost a fraction of a full time IT employee. Be sure to explore this option thoroughly. Unless technology is your core service or product, your needs may best be served by an independent IT firm and a good Service Level Agreement.
8. Failing To Plan for the Worst
Disaster recovery is a term often used for cleaning up after a hurricane, tsunami or data loss. Albeit in different ways, all incidences are considered a disaster for those involved.
But data loss does not just happen when a drive fails or becomes corrupted. Paper fades or goes up in a fire. Devices are stolen. Data Protection solutions help reduce such losses. Overall, a well thought out back up and recovery plan can be simple to implement and low cost to run. Not having a data backup and recovery plan is just too high of a risk. In some instances, it could mean the death of a business.
9. How Many Hours Do You Want Employees On Facebook?
Endless of hours are wasted each day by employees who are the clock, but doing anything but business related work. Web surfing, IM, chatting, social media, online dating and personal email pervades the business landscape. You don not have to be austere and cut it out completely, but you can monitor it, curb it and significantly reduce those lost productivity hours.
How about your company green policy and the environment? Is it important to you? Have you communicated that to your employees? Do they know not to print documents unless essential, to refill cartridges if possible, to recycle old electronics in appropriate ways?
Make it policy and it will stick. Whether it is reducing wasted hours on social media or dating sites, or saving paper, your trusted IT consultant can help you better manage your resources by implementing the right technology and policy.
10. Grow With It. Scale It. Upgrade. Keep Your Technology Up-To-Date.
Technology evolves faster and faster. Do not buy in to the one sided view of "IT is a never ending cost with no return". Rather, accept and plan for technology that will suit your purposes today but will also grow with you in future. Accept that upgrades are as essential as ongoing product development, sales training and team building. Avoid delaying upgrades until all your technology is obsolete and unsupported by your industry ( or the software industry), leaving you with an enormous upgrade bill due all at once.
Of course on the flip side of that token, you don't want be the company buying up technology aimlessly. Your IT purchases should always be planned out and support your business model.
Top 10 Mistakes Business Owners Make With Their Technology
