The Challenges of Buying New Technology

As your business looks to the future, it needs to update its technology to adapt and grow in the ever-evolving business landscape. The speed, scale, and adaptability of  a business is a vital element of long term sustainable growth, whether looking one, three or ten years into the future.

But, accessing how different technologies may benefit your business isn’t easy. In fact, oftentimes different types of solutions are worlds of their own, complete with confusing acronyms, differing feature sets, compatibilities, customizations, and more. The fact is that most organizations can identify certain capabilities they’re looking for, but oftentimes don't know how to compare competing solutions on the market. 

What Should Businesses Consider When Looking for New Technology?

• Cost: High upfront costs and ongoing subscription fees can strain budgets. Businesses must evaluate the return on investment (ROI) to justify expenses.

• Integrations: New software may not seamlessly integrate with existing systems, leading to data silos and inefficiencies. Compatibility issues can complicate implementation.

• User Adoption: Employees may resist changing to new software due to familiarity with existing tools. Ensuring proper training and support is crucial for successful adoption.

• Scalability: Businesses need to consider whether the software can grow with their needs. A solution that cannot scale may require future replacements or upgrades.

• Security: Data security is a major concern. Businesses must assess the security measures of software providers to protect sensitive information from breaches.

• Vendor Reliability: Choosing a reputable vendor is essential. Businesses risk investing in software that may not be supported or updated adequately.

• Customization: Off-the-shelf solutions may not meet specific business needs. Customization options can increase costs and complexity but may be necessary for optimal functionality.

• Implementation Time: The time required to implement new software can disrupt operations. Businesses must plan carefully to minimize downtime and ensure a smooth transition.

• Technical Support: Ongoing support from the vendor is essential. Lack of timely support can lead to frustration and hinder productivity.

• Compliance: Ensuring that software meets industry regulations and compliance standards is critical, especially in sectors like finance and healthcare.

How To Identify the Right Technologies for your Business?

Step #1 ⇒ Capability Needs Analysis

Without understanding your business needs, identifying the right solutions is impossible. The most important part of finding the right solution is to collect as much data about what the business currently has in its environment, then find out what the pain points are and prioritize them. Every business has limited resources, ensuring that you are focusing on the vital few pain points that drive the most important business outcomes for your businesses needs for growth, expansion, and compliance. TechCardinal Consulting can lead you through workshops to help identify, rank, and score your priorities as assess the various technologies out in the market.

Step #2 ⇒ Mapping Foundational Infrastructure

Once you know what capabilities your business is looking for, the next step is to see which solutions work with your existing infrastructure. With so many similar softwares and solutions on the market it might seem that many competitors are interchangeable, however, oftentimes it's only after implementation that organizations learn there are compatibility issues between their original systems / processes and new ones. This is why one of TechCardinals specialties is compatibility analysis.

Step #3 ⇒ Mapping Business Processes

Being able to understand and map out your business processes is an important step in identifying if a potential solution will fit neatly into your organization’s operational flow. This step is often overlooked or ignored in an attempt to get the next piece of software, services or solution in the door. For a Value Added Reseller (VAR) or Managed Service Provider (MSP) this is something they don't want to spend too much time on since they are not usually compensated until they start deploying solutions.

 As a business leader, you must be wary of any sales person that delivers a solution before they get to know your business intimately. The process of uncovering and then architecting the right solution is extremely important for the business as it will uncover issues that will undoubtedly come up in the future. Only after this process is complete can the right technology be identified. 

Step #4 ⇒ Solution Acquisition

Once all the analysis is done and your organization has landed on a solution, (whether it’s hardware, software, or new processes) the next step is to finally make a purchase. Depending on the type of solution, purchasing can take different forms. For hardware this can be simpler, dealing with receiving shipments and working with your internal tech teams to deploy them. For software, the act of purchase can be more intricate, oftentimes starting with pricing, customizations, and coordinating vendor implementation with your own internal implementation teams. This step is just as important as the analysis steps, as there are many issues that can arise once the details come to light.

Step #5 ⇒ Solution Implementation

After acquiring new technologies, there are few things you need to do in the process of implementing the solutions. From doing a test pilot run, rating the success of the solution against the original criteria, to training team members to use it, below are just a few of the steps in the order deployment.

• Start with doing a pilot, POC, or testing of the proposed solution.

• Score, rate, assess, select customizations within the solution.

• Installation / integration with any foundational software or services.

• Train & enable the staff, taking in any frontline / customer facing concerns.

• Iterate & improve on implementation and training.

• Identify complimentary solutions for future technology enabling.

  
  

How can TechCardinal Help?

As you drive your businesses growth through new technological innovations, keep the processes and notes above in mind. Identifying opportunities for leveraging new hardware, software, processes and solutions is absolutely necessary for any organization that wants to be on the cutting edge of their industry, which is just where TechCardinal can help. With 25+ years of experience helping businesses identify solutions, TechCardinal Consulting is proud to provide you with detailed technology analysis that drives bottom line growth. We work with multiple vendors in multiple verticals so we’re unbiased as to what solutions we recommend. You can always trust your TechCardinal Consultant’s expertise to help your business find cutting edge technology and take flight. 

Jeff Heselton, TechCardinal Consulting Managing Principal / Partner