How Advisors Can Simplify Tech Decisions (Part II)

At the same time — and I can’t emphasize this enough — include your partners and employees in decisions being made about new technology.

I’ve seen lots of messes that needed cleaning up after firm owners made tech decisions on their own and then forced these decisions onto employees.

Remember, we’re talking about enhancing employee productivity. Doesn’t that suggest that getting some input from your employees might be a good idea?

As a firm owner, you don’t always have to take your employees’ suggestions. However, to be a successful owner, you always need to listen.

When it comes to new tech, it’s a good idea to get some feedback from the folks who are going to use it. Include some, or even all, of your employees in tech demos and sales presentations.

Also, encourage them to talk with employees at firms that use the same technology. They will undoubtedly ask questions and get feedback — both good and bad — that you never could. Thus, it’s sure to be helpful if you listen carefully to what they say.

Furthermore, don’t forget to ask about — and to explore — the training and support you and your team will be getting from the tech company or consultant you are planning to work with. The best technology in the world is useless if your people don’t know how to use its powerful functionality.

Finally, before you buy any new tech platform, take all the information you’ve collected from your vendor, consultant, employees and other advisors who use it and create a formal plan of how this new tech is going to increase the productivity of your business.

It’s easy to get seduced by all the amazing things that cutting-edge tech can do. But if all that great functionality doesn’t help you and your staff work better, more efficiently or hopefully both, you’re just wasting your money — and it’s likely to be a lot of money.