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©2003, by Hillel Glazer, Entinex, Inc.
Your company may have little technology and is just starting to explore it. Your company may have an unhappy past with technology and is looking to finally get more from your technology investment. Whatever the case, there are a number of considerations to think through in order to make sure you get what you need --- and get your money’s worth. Use these 10 critical considerations to guide your technology implementation decision-making.
1. First and foremost, what are you trying to accomplish with technology?
Do you have a well-defined need for technology to do something you can’t get done? Too many companies jump to the conclusion that technology will "solve their problems" but they haven’t yet put their arms around exactly what problem technology will solve. Technology is like raw material which, when sitting on a shelf, doesn’t do much. It needs to be fashioned into something that makes it into what we want it to be. For businesses, technology needs to be given a specific purpose and instruct-ions so that it can address the business’ needs. Technology can’t figure out what you need it to do for you simply because it’s installed.
2. Are your current business processes effective/efficient?
Technology can do great things, but if a business process doesn’t work before you implement technology, automating your process won’t fix it. Investigating the answer to this question is a good sanity-check of whether you’ve got the first question right. If we think of technology as synonymous with automation, automating a broken process will only make that broken process happen faster and/or more often. Make sure your business process would work equally correct whether it’s done with computers or by passing index cards around.
3. Is your business ready for technology?
If technology is going to solve specific business needs, are you ready for what will happen? If technology solves one problem, will it just create a bottleneck somewhere else? For example, if technology solves inefficiencies in the order taking process, could your business keep up with the increased orders? You may need to adjust how you do those things that provide input to or receive output from the newly technology-enabled part of your business --- or you might just find yourself abandoning your new invest-ment because it’s just an island of efficiency in a sea of molasses.
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All Contents © Copyright Entinex, Inc. All rights reserved. These works may be freely reproduced, distributed, or transmitted solely for non-commercial, personal, or educational purposes, provided that they are not modified and any reproduction or transmission contains this copyright notice and the author’s complete bio and company information as provided. Nothing else may otherwise be used, reproduced, published, or disseminated without prior written permission.
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