Employer

Stay Ahead of the Curve: Why Technology Assessment Is Crucial for Your Business

Written by

ODG Team Contributor

Published on

7 Aug 2024

Would you believe it if we told you over 90 percent of the world’s total data has been generated only in the last decade?¹ That’s how quickly technology is growing—and it’s expected to reach 180 zettabytes in 2025. Who knows how much our daily lives will revolve around data and technology in the next 10 years?

Technology is fast advancing—and it’s no different in the business world. If you want to improve your business operations and market competitiveness, it’s crucial to stay on top of the latest developments. This is where technology assessments become vital to your strategic vision and innovation.

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Why Do You Need to Conduct Technology Assessment?

Technology assessment has only become crucial due to technology’s drastic leaps. The more we use different technologies, the more we will see new technological advancements down the road. Just looking at the last decade, we’ve seen significant changes in the digital world in terms of consumer usage.²

A quarter of the world’s population already uses one of the biggest social media platforms.
Over 16 million texts are sent every minute.
From 2 billion devices in 2006, consumer usage grew to 200 billion in 2020.

This is how much our world is relying on data and various technologies. As more people demand innovative technologies, it is inevitable that new technologies will affect our daily lives, including the world of work.

The Effect of Technology Assessment in the Workplace

So, why is technological assessment important for a business? Using technology is like using a specific social media platform. With various social media platforms out there, why do certain people use one over the other? Or why use both? The answer lies in finding the right match.

The same goes for your business. You must learn to effectively evaluate your technologies to align them with your strategic business objectives and deliver tangible results.³ Here are a few reasons why you need to perform a technology assessment for your tech stacks.

1. Make Informed Decisions

With so many technologies created every year, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and choose the most popular one. A quick search online can easily generate a few suggestions. However, this doesn’t address the real concern. Technology assessment allows you to respond to these questions:

Will the new technology address your organizational dilemmas?
Will it benefit you in the long run?
Are there any risks in using the tech?
Will it help you improve operations or complicate things?

Selecting what technologies you’ll use is a crucial step. Without it, you might miss out on vital software advantages or introduce a program that doesn’t align with your operational capacities and requirements.

2. Protect Valuable Resources

Choosing the best technology is already time-consuming. You’ll need to research, create agreements, test the program, implement, and train your employees. However, aside from that, you’ll also need to invest a significant amount of money.

Technology assessment prevents these costly and timely mistakes. It can help you identify issues and address them before they create challenges. Protect your time and money by investing in effective technology assessment initiatives.

3. Remain Competitive

Technology assessment can also help maintain your competitive edge. Technologies are developed for a reason: to improve previous technologies and introduce new ones that will solve other challenges.

By adopting new technologies and assessing your technological resources, you ensure that you’re delivering the best experience to your stakeholders. Whether it’s through better customer experience, internal productivity, or streamlining communications with external vendors, evaluating your tech stack and ensuring optimal execution will benefit your company.

4. Manage Risks

Using certain technologies can create risks. Such as when Home Depot’s third-party SaaS vendor unintentionally leaked their employee data during testing.⁴ According to the report, the data was not sensitive, but it could still be used for phishing attacks.

This is why it’s critical for companies to perform technology assessments on third-party vendors. Even without malicious intent, third-party vendors can cause security risks. Implementing consistent security measures across the whole organization, including partners and suppliers, will help prevent cyberattacks and security breaches.

5. Analyze ROI

Different technologies have different purposes and capabilities. However, each technology you adopt can also affect your bottom line. By conducting a thorough technology assessment, you ensure your investments are sound and aligned with your business goals. Technology assessment also includes calculating your ROI.

When will you get your ROI with this certain technology?
Does it significantly increase your productivity?
How much efficiency do you need to reach a successful outcome?
Is the technology worth investing in?

Conducting Technology Assessment: A Step-By-Step Process

Now that you understand the importance of evaluating new technologies, we delve into how you can effectively conduct technology assessment projects.

1. Identify the Purpose

Start your technology assessment with the reason behind the adoption. It can be reassuring to know technologies exist that can solve your problems, however, are they really necessary? Dig deep into why you need the new technology.

Will it improve operations?
Will it reduce costs?
Will it satisfy customer demand?
When will the investment return?

2. Define the Problem

How will this new technology solve your company’s challenges?

Executing a technology assessment will help you determine which areas will benefit from the new technology. Before overlooking other departmental concerns, make sure to evaluate the entire organization. This will ensure that you’re finding the right solutions and addressing every concern.

This also involves proactively addressing potential hurdles. Keep in mind that adding to your tech stack may introduce new issues. Your new technology may negatively affect certain areas of the business, causing new problems to arise. Therefore, you must be prepared and anticipate these challenges. If you take everything into account in the beginning, you may even avoid these concerns.

3. Find the Right Tech

Your technology assessment process should include robust research methods. Find the best solution that fits your exact needs. Some technologies may sound appealing on paper but are unnecessary for your company. They might even complicate things for your people. Ensure that you only consider vendors that match your preferences and requirements.

Consider scalability and ability to adapt to future needs. Choose tech solutions that can grow with your organization. Lastly, make sure that your vendor is compliant with industry standards and regulations, especially in sensitive areas like data handling and privacy.

4. Implement the New Technology

Carefully integrate the new technology into your organization and existing processes. Plan your strategy meticulously and consider all areas.

This may take time. However, if you want to successfully integrate the new technology, consider the following for your technology assessment strategy:

Assess existing processes and how the new tech will impact current workflows.
Identify areas that you can streamline to make your processes efficient.
Ensure smooth integration of current data with the new technology.
Create data migration plans and establish protocols for data security and privacy.
Conduct testing in a controlled environment before implementing it fully. Gather feedback and adjust based on user experience.
Provide comprehensive training programs for your employees. Ensure they understand the new tech and its advantages.

5. Monitor and Review

Monitor performance and evaluate the new tech’s effectiveness. One way you boost your technology assessment process is by gathering information. You can do this through feedback loops and user recommendations. This provides you with valuable insights from your employees’ experiences. Then, make changes as needed.

Resistance is also inevitable. Therefore, you must anticipate objections and establish a change management strategy to gain support from the entire organization. This will ensure smooth adoption across the organization and maintain the technology’s integrity and purpose.

Effectively Adopt New Technologies

Technology assessment is a vital component if you plan to adopt new technologies for your business. Tech is advancing at an unprecedented rate—and it becomes difficult to catch up if you’re late.

Artificial intelligence, automation, machine learning, and cloud systems are just a few of the technologies making noise today. As the years continue, our technologies will only become more powerful and capable.