Ask this before buying any business tech

When businesses plan to improve their production or processes, their IT managers often have to decide whether to buy new technology, replace the existing one, or upgrade it. Whereas these decisions can be daunting, there are a few considerations one must make to ease the decision-making process.

Ask whether the current technology in your business can take care of your needs. If it can, then there is no need for new technology just yet. It may also mean that the current technology can be upgraded and fine-tuned, making it function better.

Ask about the security features of the technology. How safe is it from infiltration by hackers? Is it overly vulnerable to malware and viruses? Read about the system. Ask questions about it and, if possible, test it.

The organisation’s IT team should investigate whether there are any necessary enhancements required for the new technology before buying it. If improvements are needed, how much will they cost in money and staff time?

Importantly, given that human beings are often the weakest link in the security of information systems, before buying new technology, it is critical to understand how the technology users will be trained and how amenable they are to training. What will it take them to accept the new technology?

Technology

Will the staff use the new technology? That’s a crucial question because regardless of how good the technology is, if staff are less likely to use it, then it may not be worth investing in it. Before committing to buy the technology, test-drive it with a small sample of staff, gather their feedback, and use the information in making decisions on the next steps.

Be wary of technologies offered for free. Whereas it may be enticing to pick a technology that charges nothing initially, ask about the future. Will there be future costs? If yes, make sure your budget can accommodate such costs. Also, consider the cost of system maintenance and upgrade. Software almost always requires an upgrade to fix flaws that are not evident during its development or add new features.

A question that is rarely asked is, what is the total cost of ownership of this technology? The total cost of ownership is the sum of all costs and expenses related to buying, implementing, and managing your technology solutions.

You can measure each technology individually, but because different technologies in an organisation work in concert, it helps consider all of them in your costing exercise.

Above all, as you plan to deploy a new system, have your plan B, should plan A fail. Implementing technology can take a different route than the expected, causing trouble to the organisation. So, have a well-thought-out exit plan in place, just in case things turn out different.

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