The Best Way to Take Advantage of New Tech is With a Long-Term Replacement Plan

New technology is meant to improve upon its previous design. This is technology 101. Despite this well-known fact, many business owners are hesitant to adopt new technology, choosing instead to continue using older equipment in an effort to save money. A better approach to technology for your business is to have a long-term replacement plan.

For companies that don’t have a plan in place to replace their outdated technology, they will still eventually upgrade their tech, but it will be done in a reactive manner. The reactive approach to replacing technology may seem like a fiscally responsible way to go about it, but it’s actually the worst way to upgrade in terms of expense and lost productivity.

As a business owner, your gut may be telling you to hold off replacing an older piece of equipment. After all, if it’s still working fine and getting the job done, then why replace it? This is a fair point, due in part because this logic rightly applies to most of life’s major purchases, like vehicles and homes. As you’re well aware, buying new technology certainly qualifies as a major business expense--new server units aren't cheap!

First off, let’s look at this issue in terms of workplace efficiency. If the entire purpose of using technology is to increase the productivity of your business, and if newer versions of technology are designed to improve upon the efficiency of previous models, then, by not upgrading within a reasonable amount of time from the release of the newer, more-efficient version, you will spend the subsequent time missing out on the increased productivity that would have been afforded your company by using the latest tech.

Concordantly, this time spent missing out on the increased productivity will eventually reach a tipping point where it will cost you more money to operate your older equipment than it would have to simply purchase the latest equipment upon its release. It’s return-on-investment logic like this why one of the most persuasive selling points for new technology has always been, “It will pay for itself.” In terms of productivity gained from new tech, this selling point is absolutely true.

Another point about adopting new technology that a business owner must consider is the efficiency lost when a workforce has to adapt to new technology. Every new version of technology comes with a learning curve that employees must adapt to. Time spent figuring out the operational intricacies of the new tech equates to lost efficiency.

Generally, the differences between newer versions of tech don’t produce enough of a learning curve to significantly deflate company efficiency. However, if an employee was using an outdated piece of tech that they were super familiar with, and it was suddenly replaced with the latest, totally redesigned version (like upgrading from a Windows XP PC to a Windows 8.1 touchscreen), then it will take the user a significant amount of time to learn the new system's protocols. Time spent figuring out a major learning curve like this will eat away at the overall productivity of your business. Therefore, a way to avoid a loss like this is to keep your workforce up-to-date with the latest tech.

As you can see, the benefits of using the latest technology far outweigh the expense of replacing your older tech in a timely manner, and the very best way for your business to take advantage of the latest tech is to have a long-term technology replacement plan; one that carefully takes into consideration the unique needs of your company and is designed with the sole purpose of increasing productivity and efficiency. SolutionOne can design such a technology replacement plan for your business, a plan that will provide you with a maximum ROI for your new tech. Call us today at (214) 299-8555 to get your plan started with a free IT assessment.