Good technology management for business and organizations
by Walking Dolphins Consultancy Inc. June 4, 2005

There are a few simple principles that will ensure your management of technology will not only meet your needs, but do so at the least cost and minimum disruption possible.

An important principle is to ensure you thoroughly understand the extent of both of those factors: cost and disruption. Many businesses turn over the procurement and deployment of technology to one employee who is seen as a “champion” or an outside consultant. There can actually be even more negative impacts if there is an in-house technology department or management of some sort whose prestige is measured by the resources and power it commands.

To understand cost it is vital not only that the immediate costs of purchasing hardware and software are known but that ongoing operating costs and collateral costs are accounted for in the decision making. There is always some disruption associated with putting in place new hardware and new systems and these disruptions represent costs to the organization. So Know all the Costs.

Secondly, be sufficiently aware of the process to ensure you are not reinventing the wheel. For example, if an expensive programming project is recommended, ask what stock programs already exist that could be purchased. Be confident that there is sufficient unique need that building your own code is the appropriate choice. At the systems level, resist the urge to try to have everything done in-house. Why operate your own e-mail systems when there are entire businesses whose skills, capital and futures depend on making e-mail systems function effectively? So principle two is Don’t Reinvent the Wheel.

With those two principles operating in the background throughout, the following agenda will provide you with the best possible solutions while consuming the least resources.

1. Know why you are buying
2. Do not buy the newest/best/most expensive
3. Don’t pay for what is free — Use Open Source
4. E-mail
5. Collaboration
6. Do Real World Testing