Upgrading your business technology is almost as difficult as knowing what kind of technology you need. It is possible to end up with an unusable product, one that quickly becomes obsolete, or one that simply does not meet your company’s unique requirements. This is if you move too quickly. It is easier to fall behind your competitors if you leave it too late. It will result in frustrated customers and employees, decreased production, and security issues.
There may not be a perfect moment to make a change, but big changes always come with trade-offs. It is better to upgrade your technology at certain times rather than others based on certain indicators.
As a security precaution
You might think this would be obvious, but determining whether it’s time to upgrade isn’t always as straightforward as it sounds. There is no doubt that you need to act if you are dealing with serious repeated breaches, but that is in the realm of waiting too long. Making the move before serious damage occurs is the key.
Since you may rely on your team to tell you when things are serious and what security investments are best to make, unless you’re an IT expert yourself, it can be difficult to identify when you need to upgrade your security. You can determine when and how to make a move by keeping in constant communication with them, as well as other business owners.
Operational performance
In any company, managing the fleet can be a challenge. As a manager, you are concerned about efficiency, productivity, and cost-cutting. While managing a workforce largely off-site most of the time, fleet managers must also be concerned about compliance and safety.
Some of these operational challenges can be solved with technology. Data can be transferred in real time using telematics systems, which combine telecommunications and information technology. Monitoring a fleet, reducing costs, improving safety, and more can be achieved with fleet telematics. In this case, technology plays a key role in ensuring efficient operations.
To manage growth
Your technology may need to be updated if you’re growing rapidly. A more robust system might be needed to handle more employees, more customers, or more products. There may be a need to change the way some processes happen, or there may be a need to automate more.
Check if your existing setup is compatible with the latest technology at this point as well. Often, companies replace system components piecemeal in order to save money or because a major overhaul isn’t yet warranted. When your business grows rapidly, however, the weaknesses of this approach are especially apparent.
Turning points
It may not be so much that your company is growing as it is changing. Perhaps your company is rebranding, or you are making substantial changes to the product or service you’re offering. You might change your mission or goals, or you might make your employees more mobile, for example.
This is a time when new and different approaches to technology are likely to be required to accommodate these changes. It is sometimes possible to achieve effective results during change through peer-to-peer coaching. It is not necessary for employees and customers to fumble through a rebranding.
Increasing productivity
It is often necessary to upgrade a system in order to maintain or increase productivity. Your software may be outdated, or the technology you have may not be able to keep up with other changes within your company.
For some time, you’ve been aware that productivity is lower than you’d like, but have only now identified technology as the culprit. You will need to work with your employees if you want to increase productivity, especially when they are already clocking more than forty hours a week. The changes you propose must first be proven to increase their productivity. Providing staff with sufficient training and time will allow them to get comfortable with the learning curve once you are certain it will work.
