Don’t Fall Behind – Making Sure Your Technology Fits Your Business
Plenty of companies have wasted money trying to guess the next technological evolution, and many have failed miserably. There were companies that invested millions in Mini-DVDs, but where are they now? There were companies that invested money in cutting-edge xerographic office photocopying and printing technology to get ahead of their competitors, only to throw their technology away when laser printing became popular.
If you want to avoid falling behind, then update your technology for “Today” and future proof your business.
An IT consultancy will tell you how modern security technology is vulnerable, but some people think the answer is to opt for futuristic technology in the hopes that online agitators will not catch up. This is foolish, you need to ensure that your technology is capable of adapting with the technological environment.
Technology Doesn’t Cost Jobs
Ever worry that the automated checkout machines at the grocery store will cost people their jobs? Did you know that as the checkout becomes more efficient, the company improves its profits. Since money is not wasted on employees sitting at tills waiting for customers, the company can improve the business, draw in more customers, and hire more shelf stackers.
Automated checkout machines are the perfect example of technology that fits a business, and its inclusion doesn’t cost jobs. Instead of trying to fill their time with inefficient tasks, replace their roles with new technology and reassign your employees. This is not the only example of an industry that benefits from having technology that is up to the businesses requirements.
Put Scaling and Customer Service Side-By-Side
Modern technology can help scale up your business, but the only way such technology will fit your business is if you rate scaling up as important as you rate customer service. There are plenty of companies that use new technology to scale up their business, and their customer service suffers as a result, which leads to a negative online backlash.
The travel insurance business is a prime example, since most people are now able to book travel insurance online and very quickly, which has led to many travel insurance companies being able to scale their operations up. However, online users are not getting a face-to-face or phone-call service, so their questions are going unanswered and they are not getting what they want. Negative reviews are common with travel insurance companies as customer struggle to understand why their claim wasn’t paid because they do not understand the intricacies of the policies they have bought. With the addition of online customer service becoming more common place as a result of technological advancements, these issues have since been resolved.
The Technological Edge And Environmental Concerns
Modernising your business to make sure you do not fall behind needs to address environmental concerns. Companies have failed to do this to their peril. It cost Coca Cola billions to relocate their factories when their local water supply started to disappear in factories in the USA. Coca Cola pledged, at the 2007 World Wildlife Fund conference in Beijing, to replace all the water they use, but their efforts have been hindered by old technology and by ignoring environmental concerns.
Since 2004, the company has improved its water efficiency by 29.30%, with an average improvement of over 2% per year. Why such slow progress? Why risk having to relocate another factory? The reason is because up until 2010, Coca Cola was focusing on the finishing side of the process and ignoring the agricultural ingredients side.
Learn from Coca Cola and consider investing in modern technology to address environmental concerns before problems appear and remember to look at your entire process to find areas of concern. Plus, with rising fuel costs, it is becoming prudent to invest at least partially in renewable energy technology.