For every action there is an equal, but opposite reaction. That’s Newton’s third law. You probably already know it. But what happens when there is complete inaction? It’s likely that you can’t expect a reaction. See, you can’t expect to continually avoid investing in your technology and still think that things will get better. It’s just not how things work. But those that refuse to invest in their technology often don’t even realize that something is wrong, until something is really, really wrong. The consequences of being a technology tightwad come in different forms, but here are the most common ones we’ve seen:
- High Employee Turnover
Employees appreciate technology that works. In fact, 42% of employees in the United States are less than happy with their technology. That’s in contrast to 82% of employees with access to flexible IT systems saying that they are satisfied at work. By taking the simple step of implementing more flexible IT systems, small businesses could save $22,000 per year in hiring costs. But do they do it? Not many businesses are willing to invest what it takes to get their technology up to speed and really serving their users.
- Poor Customer Service
What happens when you won’t invest in your technology? Things slow down. You’ve heard it on customer service calls, “Sorry, I’m just waiting for my machine to load” or “Can I place you on a brief hold while I wait for this request to resolve” – your technology has a direct impact not only on the happiness of your employees, but their ability to deliver on behalf of your clients and customers. Slow internet connections, poor phone systems, aging workstations and lack of proactive management means that your most efficient users (the ones you pay the big bucks) are working at a slower pace than they’re able to – which could be costing you big from a customer service standpoint.
- Losing Customers and Clients
We’ve discussed customer experience at length many, many times – but your failure to invest in technology means that all those customers and clients that only do business with innovative organizations are going to start working with your competition instead. When your prospects hear that your competition takes better care of their customers and has improved technology for interfacing with them – they’re not going to stick around.
- Terrible IT Support
Good IT consultants and Managed Services companies don’t come cheap. They can’t afford to. They’ve recruited top-tier talent, have the best management tools and staff strategic resources that help you become even more innovative. If you’re cheaping out on your technology, you’re just not going to get the type of support and proactive strategy that others who are willing to invest will get.
- No Business Innovation, Data or Analytics
Want to understand more about how you can take your business processes to the next level? Your line of business application should be perfectly suited for your processes and give you dashboard data and analytics on basic performance metrics. If your application doesn’t do that, is aging or out of date – you’re missing out on valuable insight that you could help you not only streamline, but take your processes to the next level. As more and more businesses assess their data to refine their marketing, production and other aspects of their business, if you’re not investing in an application that can get the same metrics, you’re going to get left behind.
Budgets are difficult to manage. We’re no stranger to tight budgets and hard decisions, but ultimately you have to decide how your technology is going to help or hinder your organization. If you’re finding increased volume of HelpDesk calls, more downtime, or network infiltration by viruses and hackers – you really need to consider what direction you’re wanting to move in with regard to your technology. By avoiding the investment, you’re saving money now – but what are you missing out on in the long term? And how much money is that failure to invest actually costing you? You’d be surprised how much ROI you can get by investing in your technology.
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