Growing companies are often faced with issues relating to new products, the need to track their sales, a comprehensive network for processing orders and tracking sales. Because they have talented, intelligent people on their staff, they take a cursory look around for a solution to their current challenges, and when they don’t find something which fits their needs, they tend to re-invent the wheel, unnecessarily.
Entrepreneur magazine published a post by Harry Red which specifically addressed the sales aspects of companies, but within that post, he talks about how important it is NOT to re-invent the wheel and to look around for someone who can more easily and efficiently solve your problem. I thought these two excerpts were a great illustration of what our Managed IT solutions can do for growing companies:
1. See if somebody already solved your technology problem.
Even when you do have a genuine technology problem, chances are somebody out there already had a crack at it.
Alistair Brett, a World Bank science commercialization expert, and partner at innovation consultancy firm Rainforest Strategies, pointed out how science-based companies tend to reinvent the wheel. They face a specific technical problem, but can’t find a solution outside the company, so they just roll their own.
“In a substantial number of cases, the problem has been solved by somebody who is not directly working in that field of research or development,” Brett said in an interview.
He gave an example of a company that struggled to create a chemical adhesive. The solution was eventually found by an electrical engineer — someone from an outside industry. An expert on a different kind of stickiness…
2. Take a down-to-Earth example.
Let’s say you want to solve information technology (IT) problems for small law firms.
First step? Consider talking to larger law firms, because law firms with in-house IT departments have wisdom for you. They can tell you what kind of problems lawyers have with IT, what technology they need to solve them, how much time this takes away from clients and so on. Instead of starting the puzzle from scratch, you extract wisdom from those who’ve been there before. Simple.
Then, you go talk to smaller law firms and put your new insights to the test.
Do they have the same problems? Can you pre-sell your value proposition? Better yet, will these law firms pay you right now so you can deliver a killer solution to their problems once you have everything in place?
Start this way and you save yourself from grinding through much of the initial learning curve.”
To take the example further. Once you have listened to the advice of a mentor in a larger firm our Managed IT specialists at Unified Technology Solutions will probably have the knowledge you are looking for to help you move forward. If we don’t immediately have a solution come to mind, we have the resources to find the best solution which you. Hiring outside IT Management can save you money in the long run.
Your IT Guys
