Andrew FlamikMany business leaders find themselves asking the same question: “How do I foster growth for my company?” The answer typically yields many paths and variables both controllable and uncontrollable. Technology is often tapped as a key driver of growth in business.
The unpredictable nature of business, the economy, and life in general creates an environment where stability is the backbone of growth. The most important factor in stability is having a plan. Planning for technology is a crucial pillar of a growth strategy. Here’s why.
Risk Management
Managing risk is one of the most important reasons to plan and budget for technology investment. Cyber incidents are unfortunately becoming common occurrences for large and small businesses in every industry.
The average cost of a cyber incident has grown exponentially as cybercriminals become more sophisticated. Organizations of all sizes are at risk, and the cost of an incident can cripple a business. Planning to invest in the proper technology infrastructure, tools and policies are the best form of risk management.
Proactive Technology Investments
One of the hardest questions to answer is “What is the right timeline to refresh technology infrastructure?” While there isn’t a right answer to this question, there does appear to be a wrong one. It’s better to have a proactive technology replacement plan than wait until something goes wrong.
Planning for regular technology upgrades allows for a predictable allocation of capital expenses that adhere to your cash flow and business plan. Waiting for technology to fail can lead to surprise cash expenses, expensive downtime, lost revenue from reduced productivity, dissatisfied clients, and frustrated employees.
Creating manageable technology roadmaps for regular refresh cycles helps to ensure your devices are:
- Optimized for employee productivity.
- Updated with the latest cybersecurity features.
- Competitive with tools your industry rivals are using.
Proactive investment allows for optimum employee productivity and compatibility with the latest cybersecurity features. Satisfied and productive employees are one of the greatest competitive advantages, and technology can help unlock it.
Streamlining Productivity
The technology you invest in can have a huge impact on employee productivity. As de-motivating as outdated technology is, innovative tools that make your employee’s jobs easier can be a game-changer. Most leaders will tell you happier staff leads to getting more work done, and ultimately more revenue for your business. Conversely, you will never know how much revenue you’re missing out on because your staff is struggling with technical issues. Downtime caused by outages could lead to big losses, and keeping your tools updated is a great way to lower the chances of this.
ROI of Technology
The cost of technology investment can lead some business leaders to sticker shock. Many companies, in fact, opt for the cheapest options available when deciding on what devices and tools to use.
However, understanding the relationship between the cost of technology and its potential return on investment can help bring the value into focus. Planning your technology on a per-employee basis is a great place to start. Start with simple calculations such as revenue lost and cost of employee downtime by role. The numbers may surprise you.
