How Misunderstanding your Tech Will Cost You

Running a business is all about having the right tools, find out how misunderstanding your tech will cost you big.

How Misunderstanding your Tech Will Cost You

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In an age where technology seems to drive everything that we do, there simply is no room for misunderstanding your tech. That means all your software, devices and programs have to function and function well. Having the right tech is a good start, but then being able to use and understand this technology for the right reasons is even more important. This article will provide you with some simple tech tips to save you both time and money.

The main issue is to generate a clear understanding of your personal and business technology as a means to improved productivity and efficiency.

E-mail

Every businessperson knows how daily or weekly email management can be a major distraction and take hours away from your day. There has been a growing trend – or more accurately, a misunderstanding – that emails should all be answered in 48 hrs. For most employers, it feels like this may be a good thing as employees can check and have access to emails at anytime, but this will eventually lead to a disastrous work life balance which in turn will adversely affect productivity. It also leads to workers having to read and do emails after hours. 

There are a few standard email tips and tricks that you can use, but the simplest is to ensure that you have the right protocols set up, allowing the right type of mail into your inbox and then being able to trust these so that you’re not trawling through a junk box to make sure that nothing useful has been diverted there by mistake. The idea is to ensure that what actually comes into your inbox is what you need and want to be opening.

With the average professional spending at least 28% of their day on reading and answering emails, this equates to about 2.5 hours a day that is lost. It’s a lot of time, and anyway to reduce this time or make it more efficient will be both a money saver but go towards increased productivity.

Tech Integration

There has been a growing trend towards ensuring that the business and businessperson has the latest tech, be it smartphones, televisions, screens, PCs, and more. This is all good and well if it is affordable, but the time spent then trying to connect to or use the latest tech may not be worth the improvements or new features. Before you buy based on social proof and pressures, ensure that the tech selected will be compatible with what you currently use and communicate with your business stakeholders and supply chain. There have been instances where businesses spend vast amounts to have the latest technology, only to find that they can no longer communicate fluidly with those in the supply chain and even customers and clients. There is no need to have the latest technology unless there is a business need identified or the business stakeholders and partners that you work with within the sector have made these changes, and you need to embrace them to keep up and ensure full participation for your business.

Technology overhauls and upgrades need to be done strategically. A full needs analysis and tech and tech skills audit should precede the purchase and adoption of any new technologies to ensure that you get it right.

Never buy Second Hand

There has been a trend to try saving money with the purchase and use of second-hand  technology. ‘So called’ gently used phones and reconditioned PCs have all made the rounds, and many businesses then struggled to get these to work as they should and as expected. The fact that second-hand machines will, in most cases, have issues of compatibility and storage issues makes them an immediate risk issue, potentially costing more than it’s worth to further upgrade and make the tech usable.

It’s the same mistake made by those who buy for a brand and not a purpose. You may have a fantastic machine that looks good and has some great tech capability, but it must be able to do the tasks that you need.

Updates and Upgrades

Understanding your IT and tech and the fact that it will all need to be updated and upgraded at some point is critical but planning for this is the only way to avoid downtime and money lost to unplanned or unplanned shutdowns for tech upgrades. The trend has been for businesses to use a holistic Managed IT service, which is then able to manage the update and upgrade process. This may require remote access to office and out or office machines and must be taken very seriously as it is in the upgrades and updates that you will be able to avoid the gaps in security and ensure that your system is as safe and secure as it needs to be at all times.

Furthermore, only plan and institute upgrades that are actually needed. 

Program for a Purpose

One of the biggest spends in the current business climate is software and the various business applications. Many a business has found that without a clear understanding of the type of software and applications that are essential for the business, leaves them in a position where they may have a lot of software and various costly apps that are simply white elephants and are not used as expected or as frequently. The solution is to ensure that you only have the software and apps that are absolutely essential for core business functions. It is also a great waste of space to have applications on your system that are never used. They may even have been paid for.

Technology can thus be a double-edged sword, and the more you have, the more you would expect to improve efficiencies and effectiveness. However, there can be a massive downside in that if you purchase technology that you and your employees don’t fully understand, regardless of how modern and who else has it, you will have made a costly error in judgment.