Most every executive is driven to make sure that their business investments both increase productivity and maximize profits. The most common way to reach these goals is by minimizing costs, adding more value to products and keep up with the market competition. For a company to achieve these objectives, CEOs and other key decision makers strive to fully realize the value of technology decisions on their daily operations and closely tie new technologies to their organizational goals.
More than half of CEOs indicate that technology will have a major impact on the way they compete in the next five years.
It begins with a vision. The goals need to be clear – how exactly is this technology going to improve productivity? What problem is this tool going to solve? What will these improvements look like and how will we recognize and capitalize on them? Goals need to be effectively communicated so what changes need to be made to put these tools to use? Specifically, what are the expectations of everyone involved? Each affected employee needs to be aware of the impact the implementation of these tools has on their work. As changes rock the business world today, acquiring and integrating new technologies has become a key way to gain a competitive advantage. Technology should, therefore, feature prominently in every company’s strategic plan.
Here are few key areas to consider when developing a technology strategy:
Increased profits
A business only thrives when attaining profit goals. To accomplish this, the value of the output must be higher than the cost of the input. Reducing input costs further increases profit margins. Using technology helps achieve this goal through automation and smart analysis.
Marketing
Current marketing trends such as social media marketing and the use of customer relationship management systems, websites, and smartphone apps are centered on technology. By using new innovative technologies, the marketing team can assess the response of the market towards your products and services, formulate and implement plans of reaching new clients and project the future of the company sales.
Data collection, analysis and storage
Recording and securely storing data is vital to business success. Retaining information on sales, purchases, supplies, human resources, tax compliance and customer relations is crucial to the future of your organization. An investment in the right technology will streamline the collection, analysis, management, integration and storage of this information.
Business Processes
Improvements in business processes increase efficiency, reduce waste of resources (including time and money), enhance employee engagement and even improve the way human capital is allocated. All of those things are fundamental for successful businesses and the adoption of technology breakthroughs will make these improvements possible.
The technology decisions made today will shape future business outcomes. It is essential to embrace the technology needed to keep a company agile and prepared to face tomorrow’s challenges.
