Whether you’re buying new business premises, investing in a new communications system or purchasing new business software, there is often a trigger that inspires the change.
Is this the case for your business? Consider the reasons for making technology changes now. For a retail business it could be the impact online competitors are having on profits, and so the retailer invests in the development of their own online store to operate alongside their bricks and mortar business. Or the trigger could be something closer to home such as a local server failure that forces a business to overhaul their systems at great expense.
An example of this is a plumbing business in Queensland that was badly impacted by two disasters within 12 months. At the start of 2011 all of their business records were destroyed in the Queensland floods and earlier this year their business records were again damaged, this time by a severe electrical storm. These events triggered their move to cloud accounting so they would have safe offsite hosting and back-up of their data that they can access from anywhere.
But how can businesses force the trigger for technology change before problems occur?
As with all business decisions it takes planning and good strategy. There will always be people who are more than happy to adopt new technologies and do so readily, but for others technology changes are very challenging. Often these challenges are perceived, such as an individual’s belief in their IT ability, or an expectation that a change would be too expensive.
As technology developments move quickly, having the mind-set and ability to recognise the need for change and to overcome resisting forces is vital.
Has your business successfully changed technology and what was the trigger for change? Do you think businesses need to develop more “change ready” cultures to compete in 2012?
