If you own or run a business that’s been around for a while, you could be suffering from some pretty serious debt. However, I’m not talking in a financial sense—I mean technology debt.
It’s a silent business killer you may not even be aware exists. And the older your business, the more of it you likely have, and the more damage it’s doing to your growth and customer loyalty.
So with that in mind, let’s explore technology debt and how you can survive it.
What is Tech Debt?
Put simply, tech debt is any technology you’re using, whether internally or as an offering to customers, that’s holding you back because it’s no longer effective. Think about anything you have on premises that’s housed on a server. It could be your ERP or the DCAs you’re using to collect data at customer locations. Or it might be the software you’re using for inventory control and service ticketing. Worse yet, the solutions you’re offering to your customers could be rotting from the inside out thanks to tech debt.
Infrastructure Tech Debt as Opportunity
The very printers and copiers your customers are using could be viewed as tech debt. While, tech debt is traditionally viewed as software that’s out of date, infrastructure (servers, switches, displays) also has the potential to fall into this category.
Regarding your copiers and printers, do they have modern security features to protect against bad actors? Are they capable of cloud print for the burgeoning remote workforce? Does the scan bed integrate with the latest document management and cloud storage solutions? Are customers looking for digital workflows that can help get work done from anywhere? If the answer is yes to any (or maybe all) of these questions, your customers have some tech debt in the print and copy infrastructure. Copiers and MFDs are no longer “dumb” machines, and as the world continues to digitize and take advantage of cloud solutions, you likely have great ways to help them.
Why Does Tech Debt Matter for Running Your Business?
The Great Resignation isn’t going away anytime soon. But what does this have to do with tech debt? It’s almost impossible to get all the new headcounts you need, and you could even be losing employees to organizations with less tech debt. If your internal systems are archaic but “get the job done,” you’re likely at great risk of hurting your business from the inside out.
People like easy. People like modern. People like simplicity. If your competitors have systems with less tech debt while offering easier, more-flexible solutions to help them get work done, they can use that advantage to lure employees away from you or grab new employees from the field.
Another reason to remove internal tech debt is that you may end up needing fewer people in the first place. Fewer hours spent administering older systems means more hours to get real work done. This helps your employees become more efficient and productive, so you may be able to function with a smaller staff.
What Should You Do Next?
There are steps you can take to minimize, or even eliminate, much of your tech debt. Start by asking your employees and customers some hard questions: Are you seeing alternatives to the tools we use/offer today that you find attractive? Are there systems in place that are holding you back from getting work done? Is your ERP holding you back or impacting your workday negatively? If you had a magic wand that could make working with us easier and better, what would that be?
We were given two ears and one mouth for a reason: If we’re willing to ask great questions and to listen to the answers, the way out of tech debt might be right in front of us.
