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5 Important Things to Consider When Investing in New Technology
Implementing cutting-edge technology can deliver significant business advantages to companies of all sizes, help meet strategic goals, and infuse much-needed innovation into the overall business. For example, cloud, IoT, cryptocurrency, blockchain, AI, and big data, are just a few current technology innovations that can have enormous implications for your business and help it thrive. Taking advantage of these new technologies and implementing them appropriately to fit your business goals can give your company the ultimate competitive advantage.
Investing in new technology is a critical strategic decision and should be treated accordingly, as making the wrong technology investment can be detrimental for business growth and development. Below we have compiled a list of 5 important things to always consider when investing in new technology to ensure it’s the right move for your company.
1. Business Alignment
One of the first and most important questions to ask yourself during this process is if this technology truly aligns with the goals of your business. How does this technology fit into the big picture of your business objectives? Will implementing this new technology solve a problem that’s currently holding you back from maximizing results? Is there a simple integration or implementation pathway – or in other words, will this technology support and work with other systems you have in place?
Ask yourself and all those involved with this investment decision these questions. Your business, technology, and strategy must align together smoothly to maximize full potential.
2. Potential
Is there long-term strategic and profitable business potential that comes with this technology? This should be a question you’re continuously asking yourself. For example, artificial intelligence (AI) is innovative and brings things to the table that humans cannot – something that is a growing advantage in the healthcare, transportation, and retail industries. On the other hand, for different sectors, the integration of AI is not currently as beneficial, as there is little potential to realize investment return multiples. Do your research to ensure that this new technology you’re looking into will have the potential to help your business develop in the right direction and will generate a healthy ROI rather than become a regrettable drain on the company.
3. Employees and Training
Think about your staff and give them the opportunity to voice their concerns and opinions on what can help improve the performance of the technology under consideration. Will they find this technology useful? Do they see it bringing positive benefits such as simplifying tasks that make it worth the investment?
Another thing to consider is the implementation of this technology and the cost to efficiently train the employees using it. Even if this is similar to the prior technology and is user-friendly, it’s essential to train everyone adequately. This will require a commitment from your staff and a dedication to learning, another reason to hear out their concerns and make sure everyone is on board.
4. Profitability
Adopting new technology has huge financial implications that you must take into consideration before investing. Implementing new technology is intended to make your business more profitable by saving you time, money, or preferably both. If it doesn’t show significant promise to deliver a substantial impact on those aspects within your business, you’re likely looking at investing in the wrong technology, which can pose a considerable threat to your business’s financial success. The long-term implications are crucial when thinking about new technology; consider the potential success of a project, in addition to the immediate costs and implementation strategy.
5. Risks
Determining potential risks is a vital aspect of the decision-making process. You should always consider the impact on your business that this technology implication could carry if it were to fail. Once determining your risks, you can better judge whether or not it’s a risk you are willing to take, can afford, or both. Taking the risk has often proven to be one of the best decisions some companies ever made, however, it can be quite the opposite and detrimental to success if you aren’t fully aware of what could happen and don’t have a plan in place to deal with less than ideal impacts.
Final Thoughts
Avoiding pitfalls in investing in the wrong technology and finding the right technology will make all the difference for you, your staff, and the success of your business. Always be diligent in evaluating all of your options when adopting new technology. Your diligence in exploring all of the benefits and risks could make or break your next move. Be thoughtful in making decisions about selecting and implementing new technology based on its newness and perceived potential to deliver promising results. Taking time to ensure that it will improve various aspects, such as operational costs, functionality, and time to market can ensure your success. Carefully reviewing existing technologies, databases, and system processes to identify the difficulty of implementing change before deciding to go forth with your new tech investment is also critical.
While making decisions for your business as challenging as this one, having the right partner by your side can make all the difference. Start the conversation today, and let’s discuss the future of your business.
