Do You Need All These Tech?

The ever increasing demand of technology interventions in all facets of transformation, makes me sometimes wonder whether we are complicating processes by deploying layers of technology.

I feel we should test all interventions on these 3 parameters before initiating this journey.

1. Alternate Solutions – is a good way to start. Do you need a point solution or something bigger? Can you tweak the other business levers such as market strategy or the organization structure to derive a reasonable solution. We often overlook the alternate levers and be myopic on tech solutions.

2. Future proof – there are many cases of having tech products dropped off from the delivery eco system because they were not found useful within a few months of deployment. While the rationale of sun-setting a solution will be discussed and debated ad nauseam in closed door meetings, I feel the team overlooked one of the key aspects of tech investing. It is very important to ask the question – will this technology intervention help meet my business needs in 5 years? This is more important if you are trying to get more point solutions rather than enterprise solutions.

3. Adaptability – from both users and technology. During COVID, both people and technology were in a disarray. While it is difficult to predict Black Swan events, technology which is farsighted and have the ability to adapt (Zoom access issues vis a vis MS Teams stable delivery) should be identified and aligned with the organization long term vision.