"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind there are few.”
- Shunryu Suzuki
Over the past 17 years I’ve seen a lot of change within my company as well as within other companies in Whatcom County. I’ve seen businesses grow and thrive, I’ve seen businesses shrink and die. I’ve seen the opposite too – grow and die, shrink and thrive! Right here at Northwest Computer I’ve seen just about everything, from business ideas we’ve had that have propelled us to where we are today to business ideas that lasted only a few months before fizzling out. Every business is bound to make some smart decisions as well as some not-so-well-thought-out ones – we’ve had our share of both, and we’ve learned many lessons along the way. This is the topic of this month’s article – growth management in the world of technology. Looking back I can see now why, with the extreme complexity of technology, many companies miss the mark by so much when it comes to technology’s role in growth management. But it doesn’t have to be that way – there is a better path.
Managing Change
The Trusted Advisor. This may be the single most important role to fill when it comes to managing your company’s technology needs as it grows and changes. The trusted advisor is absolutely critical in managing any even moderately complicated technology environment. By the time you have five computers in your business, simply adding more when you need them quite possibly doesn’t make sense. This is when you need a trusted advisor. Do I buy a PC or a notebook? Why? Do I need a network? What about data security? What if a computer crashes? How much productivity do I lose by not having an adequate PC? How much do I gain by deploying a notebook? I could ask a hundred, nay – a thousand more questions like this and suddenly it becomes very clear that the average Joe Businessman is not even close to qualified to answer most of them. In fact, the average Joe Businessman doesn’t generally even know what questions to ask, let alone the answers to them. The solution to this problem is the trusted advisor. But be careful here – this is where I’ve seen people make some extremely foolish choices. This is often where Joe B. calls in his cousin Ed Fixitall – the guy who built his own computer last year, reads the online tech forums, and is now a self-proclaimed computer expert. Even if Ed was a computer expert, that’s not enough. What is needed here is a business technology applications expert. Someone who really has a much broader understanding of what technology is appropriate for your type of business. Someone who knows what the full capabilities of technology specifically suited to your needs are. And as importantly; the risks and shortcomings. This probably isn’t Ed. This is a trusted advisor. And trust is earned, not bestowed. To be a trusted advisor, one must have the underlying knowledge and intention to earn that trust. And one must deliver over and over again, without fail. This is the trusted advisor.
So when it comes to growing your business it becomes of paramount importance to find a trusted advisor. Think about it this way; if you decided you wanted to build a football stadium you wouldn’t just go start buying a bunch of metal and turf – that would be insane. You would seek out the most knowledgeable people in the stadium-building business and consult them before you ever bought the first load of cement. You would find a trusted advisor. There would be a ton of consulting, engineering, planning, etc. before you just dove in. The same can (and should) be said for any even moderately complex computer system. This is especially true when you’re in a growth phase. Take that stadium for example; what if you knew that in 3 years you were going to need to accommodate a football, baseball and basketball team. You certainly wouldn’t build the stadium without taking that into account from the get go. Similarly, you wouldn’t build a network of ten computers as if you were only ever going to have ten computers if you expected to be doubling in size over the next two years – you’d want to plan in advance to accommodate that growth. And for those who think otherwise, good luck… simply adding another ten PCs down the road may make sense…it may also be a huge financial blunder…but without consulting an expert this may not be revealed until it’s too late.
Choosing a Path
It’s amazing to me that in this day and age people tend to be so hesitant to consult experts in the computer technology field. People go to mechanics every day to have their cars fixed. People call electricians when they want a building wired. People see a doctor when they feel sick. Why then is computing treated any differently? You wouldn’t ask your bowling partner why you had sharp pains in your abdomen – at least not unless he or she was a physician. Don’t get me wrong, every day I see plenty of well thought out, well planned deployments of hugely complicated networks. In fact, it seems that the more complicated the network, the more outside help is sought, despite perhaps having internal resources to assist in deployment and growth management. Whereas the less complicated networks, although perhaps simpler, tend to be installed with no technical know-how at all, and with no future planning in mind whatsoever. And the irony is that in these smaller scale deployments the cost of doing it right is usually quite trivial – certainly when compared to the cost of fixing it after the fact.
Growth is a difficult thing. There are so many facets to growing a business that often technology tends to be seen as a necessary evil, or at best a tool for survival. But it’s the really forward thinking companies who prosper, and the forward thinking companies don’t see technology in that way at all. They recognize that technology is perhaps the single most powerful business tool to employ in the service of growing a business and gaining competitive advantage. These are the companies who know when to call an expert, when to turn their dreams into goals, their goals into plans, and their plans into reality. To do this in a world of ever changing technology they know that they need to consult someone who is immersed in the business technology on a daily basis, not their cousin Ed Fixitall. So get serious, make technology do what you want it to do. Make technology work for you. Make technology your leg up on the competition. Make technology a facilitator of growth, not a hindrance. Talk to an expert and save yourself some real headache and perhaps a ton of money. Go out and grow your business with confidence, not fear.
Want to learn more about how managed services work? Find out about it on our website or contact me (734-3400 x150 or edonofrio@nwcomputer.us) and I’ll send you information that will help you determine whether this revolutionary technology makes sense for your business.
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