It’s tough to manage every cent spent in a business, but when we’re talking about a similar investment as a skilled employee, it deserves deliberate attention. Investment in IT is often made in large batches (every 3 to 5 years) when companies refresh their technology and these larger scale decisions require in-depth planning.
Too often, not enough thought goes into how a business should invest in technology. It only becomes painfully obvious a change is needed when there is a major problem – like a ransomware attack. This reactive IT support approach is costly.
Avoid over-Investing
Over the years, we’ve met countless business professionals working in organizations where there’s been a lack of oversight and leadership when it comes to managing the IT. The IT in these workplaces is often complicated, unnecessary and expensive. A common example is backups. Some have more than one backup system because the first one wasn’t adequate or there is a lack of confidence – the result is wasted investment and unnecessary complexity. Or, perhaps, to play it safe, a server is double the specifications (and triple the cost) of what is needed. With a bit more understanding and planning, something more moderate could have been purchased and provided the same benefit.
The bigger issue with poor technology planning is the massive impact this can have on the operations of the business over the life of the investment. Investing in software that isn’t the right fit could cost a business thousands of hours of lost productivity. The opportunity cost of missing functionality can also be enormous.
Your IT roadmap
At Smart Dolphins, we work with our clients to develop an IT Roadmap. Your Roadmap is a snapshot of the plans in place today to improve your IT for the foreseeable future. It includes everything planned this quarter and beyond, including tentative longer-term plans.
Planning technology investments, proactively, on a regular basis, with a comprehensive view of the business can save a lot of money. This optimization also prolongs the life of the investment by many years and magnifying the benefits during its useful life.
IT Planning is easier said than done. Assessing organizational IT requirements takes time and the right, methodical approach. It’s more than a short conversation over a boardroom table a few months before the “roll out”. It may come as no surprise that I’m here to also tell you that Smart Dolphins happens to be pretty darn good at this planning stuff.