According to all the experts, technology is the answer to all your business problems. It is both the future and the present. If you are not taking advantage of all it has to offer, you are falling behind. If you are already using a tech solution, it is probably too outdated and will need to be upgraded to the latest version. You will need to be retrained on the new edition. 2.0 has already been replaced by 4.0. What happened to version 3? Don't worry about it. Version 3 is already old and busted.
These nameless experts are everywhere. They act as if technology can do no wrong. When tech does go wrong, those same experts are there to blame you for the way you used it. The tech is never at fault. The problem always rests with that component between the monitor and the keyboard. You start doubting, and worse, blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong with a piece of tech.
Many times, the problem is not with the user, but with the documentation. Good technical documentation can be the difference between a successful product and one that suffers a high number of returns or service calls. Companies that take documentation seriously can enjoy more profits and greater success, as well as reduce negative reviews. Make sure that the people relying on your products and services have useful documentation to go with it. Lack of good documentation is just one of the pitfalls of relying too heavily on technology to solve all your business problems. Here are a few more of which you should be aware
You Are Limited By the Platform Provider
One of the biggest problems with using a distributed file system replication is that it is likely tied to a single platform such as Windows. Using their solution will not help if you have to work with people on other platforms. You always have to be careful when dealing with single-platform solutions. That is why so many businesses are stuck on Windows right now when they would rather be using something else. They are locked into a single-platform solution.
It is also a problem if the company decides to go in a different direction and deprecate the product in a way that is harmful to your bottom line. You are beholden to whatever whim the platform owner happens to have. Platform lock-in can be bad for your business. You can make it work if you have to. But it is a danger that often comes back to bite.
Solutions Are Out Of Your Control
When something goes wrong with your tech, you often have no choice but to wait for someone outside of your organization to fix it. When Square's payment system recently went down for a few hours, it cost business owners a lot of money on one of the most lucrative days of the year. You can't afford to have your only means of taking payments on the fritz without having any way to fix it.
If your entire business is online, what happens when your internet provider has an outage? You are going to miss an entire day of sales. For retail, you need to have a manual cash-handling system so that you can sell things to people who want to buy them. Customer service departments can't help because no one knows the policies without looking something up on a computer. Rather than teaching everyone how to look things up on computers, you would do well to train people on the actual policies and procedures so that the business survives tech outages.
You Lose the Personal Touch
Today, the most valuable aspect of a bank seems to be getting people served as quickly as possible. Doing this requires no human interaction in most cases. And that is exactly what has been lost. Businesses thrive on relationships with customers. A banker that knows you by name is far more valuable than shaving 3.7 seconds from a transaction. Spend the money to put humans on the phone instead of on automated phone trees. Making customers feel special does not require more technology; it requires more humanity.
By all means, use the technology that is appropriate for the times and for your needs. But remember that not everyone uses the same platform. Solutions to problems need to remain in your control. And the personal touch is more important than the latest tech.
