Choosing The “Right Technology” for Your Organisation

Times are indeed changing, and businesses are struggling to stay relevant. Out of desperation, some organisations have embarked on huge and costly transformation projects at the wrong time. We hear repeatedly, “invest in technology”, “go digital”. The question on the minds of most CEOs and senior decision-makers really is “what is the right technology?”

This question is posed against four major considerations;

1. The cost of technology

2. Improved efficiency of the business process

3. The maturity level of the organisation

4. The benefits of adopting the solution vis-à-vis the anticipated impact on the bottom line.

To clarify, “technology” in this article refers to any enterprise solution or application that can aid a business to fulfil its objectives. Indeed, every organisation whether large corporations or small can benefit from technology adoption. The solutions to be adopted differ based on the function, size, growth stage, or vision of the acquiring organisation. For example, a bank may deploy a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool to improve customer experience and customer retention. Similarly, a dry-cleaning business may invest in an application that notifies customers of their laundry with pick-up and payment options.

While improving customer experience is great, it is more important to spend time assessing the system gaps in your processes, the current product demand, the technology options available and the cost-benefit of these options.

Here are a few things companies need to take into consideration.

· Identify the processes that need automation

Identify the activities that take up the most time and then evaluate the alternative ways this activity can be performed. There is a need to determine the extent to which technology can help to improve efficiency of the process. The solution may be on-premise or a more dynamic cloud solution with associated lower entry costs. These processes and requirements should be provided to potential solution providers to demonstrate their product’s capabilities and ensure the products are fit for your use.

· Is the solution fit-for-purpose?

This is a very important bit that is often overlooked. At times, organisations don’t take time out to customize technology solutions to match their internal processes. In some cases, you find that a process that was designed to be automated end-to-end, at some point in the workflow breaks off to become manual. A good example of this is a procurement solution that is not programmed to receive requisitions from various business units. Email requisitions and memos will eventually become harder to track and fulfil. Another situation could be when businesses recruit additional resources to match the so-called “global practice” processes embedded in the application. This factor alone could end up increasing operating costs.

· Understand the total cost related to implementing the solution.

Sometimes clients get so excited about deploying a solution that they don’t pay close attention to all the fees associated with that technology. Make enquiries about the set-up fees and any annual or maintenance fees associated with the application. Try to uncover “hidden costs” associated with enterprise resource planning tools, including implementation costs, upgrade costs etc.

· Does this technology impact profit/loss?

This consideration is particularly important in emerging economies as several businesses don’t have access to a lot of funds to invest in transformational projects. Investing in the right technology at the wrong maturity level may cripple the business. Businesses must conduct a cost-benefit analysis to establish the viability and impact of these solutions on the bottom line before implementing them.

· Would the technology be obsolete in the short-term?

Investing some time and effort in research that provides insights to future products and market trends will help to ascertain the lifecycle of the technology. Indeed, adequate knowledge of market dynamics helps an organisation to withstand the shock of disruption and to stay abreast of what competitors are doing.

To get more information on choosing the right technology, contact our specialists at pcl.

• Nneoma Ezeobele