Stacy's Tech Blog

I began working on this post as a result of interactions with business owners over the years when talking with them about technology solutions or services they were interested in implementing. I realized that many business owners, especially small businesses, have a good understanding of their business, but are not “techies”. Also, truly vetting a product or service was not something that was commonly done.

Most relied on marketing information, what could be “Googled” or a sales pitch on specific benefits that “may” be provided to their respective business. I noticed this often led to misinterpretation or misrepresentation of the technology or service and that subsequently led to a customer satisfaction problem for the vendor or provider.

Because of this, I decided to write up some considerations that small business owners can use to help them make better decisions. Vendors and providers, take head, as this could also be viewed from your perspective as a “what not to do” or “how to ensure the customer gets what they expect”.

Upgrades/Maintenance

This is the most common scenario since most businesses have some form of technology already deployed, which could range from a single site with a couple of workstations and bookkeeping software to multiple servers and workstations deployed over multiple sites with multiple Line of Business and office productivity applications.

Upgrading applications, workstations, servers, etc is a regular process that has a couple of drivers. One, the software/hardware manufacturer no longer supports the software version or hardware that your business is using. Two, the new software version or hardware has capabilities that would help increase productivity in your business.

Most businesses plan on using their hardware (i.e., servers, workstations, firewalls, etc.) for up to 5 years. Some business owners even consider it a one-time capital expenditure that should not have to be repeated and the software often goes unaccounted for with regards to budgeting. Problem is, new hardware comes out quite frequently (new processor chips, new types of memory, new PC models, etc) and software manufacturers have major releases every year or so.

Putting these costs in your business plan is a way to avoid the sticker shock. Upgrading software, which often requires better hardware, can drastically increase your expenditures if the hardware requirements are not accounted for.

Does this mean you shouldn’t upgrade your software? It depends. Does the manufacturer still support the version that you’re on? Does your business require a feature that is only available in the newer version? Will productivity be improved if you upgrade? These are questions you need to answer to help determine your path.

New Technology

Whether it be a new phone system, network infrastructure or a new software solution to help with your business productivity, new technology has hidden costs you may not be aware of.

Deployment cost is sometimes unaccounted for. You buy a solution from a vendor, but now you have to pay to have it installed.

Management cost is the most often overlooked. You have this brand new solution, but who is going to perform the day-to-day maintenance? Perhaps you have a dedicated IT staff that does this. Perhaps you do not have dedicated staff, but have someone whose primary job is something else. Management of a solution is an important part of the overall cost consideration.

Training cost is often neglected since any new technology will likely require training for your users. And training your users on a new technology takes them out of the day-to-day, which means decreased productivity. And of course there is technical training required to ensure that someone on your staff can maintain your new system. Things like performing backups, adding/removing user accounts or new staff training.

In addition to these costs, the upgrade/update costs should subsequently be added to your business plan as I mention above in “Upgrades/Maintenance”.

So, who’s going to install it? Who’s going to maintain it? Who’s going to train my users? How much are upgrades? Can I buy a subscription that gets me the upgrades for no additional charge?

These are questions you should ask to help you make better decisions for the long term goals of your organization. Be skeptical. Require proofs of concept or live demos, not mock-ups. If possible, speak to someone who’s already using the technology. This gives you a clearer understanding of what it’s really like to own a product/technology and will go a long way towards making your business more profitable.