Overcoming hurdles with integrating technology in your business

We all know that the path to future efficiencies and business growth is heavily reliant on one thing: technology. It’s far from a secret but how come so many individuals and organizations shy away from technology and stick to mantras of ‘we have always done it this way’ when justifying their lack of technology integrations? There can be many reasons but quite frankly, there are hurdles with integrating technology into your business which can cause many people to shy away from it entirely.  As a result, it’s important to not only know what these hurdles are but also to know what the best solutions are in order to overcome them.

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One of the main challenges that an enterprise can face when implementing technology is understanding what the operational gaps are and how to address them. From the onset, it’s important to do the necessary pre-onboarding engagement in order to establish what you wish to gain from the product/service, what is the success criteria and does the timing align with your goals. Once this is complete, it’s important to work with your provider to outline clear goals for 30, 60 and 90 days post the start date of the onboarding process. This allows for both the client and service provider to have clear expectations of what the objectives are, and the steps required to meet them. Especially with technology integrations, it’s important to remember that not everything can be done at once and setting appropriate goals that allow for gradual but well-paced progress is best. Following some of these best practices are tangible solutions to bridging the operational gaps that are most common when integrating technology.

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Another obstacle that many firms can face is related to the knowledge gap that can exist in an organization when it comes to the technology that they use. One of the best ways to overcome this is to determine which individuals are doing what responsibilities on the platform. This way there isn’t any ambiguity and the sentiment of ‘someone else will do that part’ won’t exist. Also, having the technology provider give comprehensive training on the use cases that are related to your company, rather than general cookie-cutter training, is imperative to improving everyone's competency. Having efficient on-demand help during the initial implementation provides tremendous value so that everyone gets the answers they need and can stay on target. Lastly, even after the initial implementations, there is necessary monitoring and evaluation to ensure that there aren’t any knowledge gaps in your company.

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While technology might feel intimidating at times, knowing that there are concrete and palatable best practices to follow can help mitigate some of the common concerns. Partnering with a technology firm that understands these obstacles and has experience with how to address them is incredibly important. Ultimately, with their expertise, they can help mitigate these obstacles making your implementation process as seamless as possible. When technology is integrated into your business process, the efficiencies and growth potential that become possible can make the difference in propelling your company to the next level.

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