RiverTrail Technology Blog

When you started your business, you probably thought it natural to handle everything. But as you scale, you might start to realize that the “scrappy” mentality turns into a trap. You might find yourself throwing away hours of your time resetting employee passwords, troubleshooting printer drivers, and panicking over software updates. You’re so busy fighting technology problems that you don’t have any time to steer your company’s growth.

Imagine you’re about to pitch your ideal client and close a multi-million-dollar deal that has been in the pipeline for eight months. You’ve got your presentation slides, custom financial models, and proprietary files all stored on your office infrastructure. The problem is that when this VIP walks into the building, a major power surge strikes, knocking out your server hardware. 

Yikes!

Managing a technology budget is incredibly frustrating right now. Technology costs are higher than they have ever been, mostly because software companies have shifted entirely to recurring subscription models. You look at your monthly IT bill and feel like you are burning cash, yet your team is still complaining that things are slow or frustrating to use.

Just throwing more money at the problem rarely solves it. Sometimes the smartest move you can make is to stop buying new things and focus on using what you already have in a more effective way.

Many organizations fall into the “jack of all trades, master of none” trap with their business technology. When seeking a competitive edge, the instinctive response is often to open the checkbook and subscribe to whatever hot new thing is trending in the industry. This is the wrong approach, because true operational excellence is about strategy, security, and execution.

To truly outperform the competition, organizations must look inward and optimize the infrastructure they already possess. Here are five strategies to turn your existing technology into a distinct competitive advantage.

Imagine your business has just suffered a data leak. Your IT staff are isolating the breach, patching the vulnerability, and restoring your systems from backups. While this looks like a victory, it’s important that you consider the other ramifications that come from such an incident—including the damage it can do to your company’s reputation.