Use Effective Technology Management To Catapult Expansion And Revenue

Information technology has dramatically altered the daily lives of individuals throughout the world. But on a broader level, effective technology management has revolutionized the way businesses do business: from how they operate to how they communicate.

Leveraging innovative technology solutions for your business is not only key to survival in the modern business world. It's directly linked to your goals for revenue and growth.

Technology management is comprised of three powerful components: people, processes and the technology itself.

THE PEOPLE

This is not just about your IT department, if you have one. This is about building a tech-savvy organization: where all departments are actively, consistently and efficiently utilizing the best, most relevant technology solutions for their particular goals.

• Business leaders and managers have to learn how to identify and leverage technology based on their specific business needs.
• Power users and evangelists help support the company with actionable training, knowledge and guidance.
• Technology experts, brought in by the CEO, help integrate newer technology into their departments.

THE PROCESSES

This is about establishing regular rhythms that tie business initiatives and strategy to your information systems roadmap. But more importantly, it's about checking in with and updating these rhythms on a consistent basis -- quarterly at minimum. Many organizations think they can get away with technology process improvement on an annual basis. But with how fast the world, your business and technology changes, that's simply not good enough.

THE TECHNOLOGY

This is about setting up a solid technology foundation. Without this powerful infrastructure in place, you cannot move onto the more strategic, innovative aspects of your information systems. Instead, you'll be stuck dealing with those day-to-day IT issues -- putting out those frustrating "technology fires" and wasting time on low-value IT components like email, word processing, spreadsheets, etc.

This is when your IT confidence and peace of mind hit the road. And when it comes time to move your business forward -- to make those game-changing decisions; to innovate and to differentiate -- you'll be up against a growth-stifling headwind from that shaky (or completely non-existent) foundation.

Set up your foundation to make room for innovation.

• Leverage what you already have. Make sense of your data with powerful data visualization tools, translating the numbers into actionable intelligence to make better business decisions.
• Stay focused on your core customer. This is about making sure that the decisions and IT investments you are making are aligned with what your core customer actually cares about and support your unique value proposition.
  • If your core customer wants more than just email correspondence, find a way to help connect with them on a more interactive, more compelling level (e.g., video conference).
  • If your core customer doesn't want a self-service website, and would prefer to talk to a human being, don't build a self-service website.
  • What happens when you're not focused on your core customers? Not only would you alienate your best clients, but you would also attract the customers you don't want.
• Take care of your talent... and your talent will take care of your company. Your technology experts help drive operational efficiencies, which set you up for better service delivery and customer satisfaction. 

To learn more about effective technology management and setting your company on a path toward growth and success, set up a consultation with a PointMan.