Well, while the good news is that there are, for really the first time, some truly excellent answers emerging in terms of how to effectively accomplish this feat in specific areas, there are very few general axioms that can answer this question for a startup looking to grow to $10M versus a $1B organization targeting $2B. The needs of these differently sized organizations are so wildly disparate that all of the 'buzz word filled' general recommendations, such as;• Go to the cloud!
• Centralize!
• Decentralize!
• Build your own cloud!
• SAAS!
• ETC ETC ETC
Are all… pure horse manure. There is absolutely no way that any responsible information professional could make any of these recommendations without a thorough analysis of the company’s present state, an understanding of how they got there, and a well defined picture of where they want to go.
The only axiom which holds true for all these businesses, regardless of size (and in truth regardless of industry) is that the spend should, at all times, be aligned with the goals of the business.
A few rules of thumb which can help;
1. Does the selected technology augment, enable or fulfill a goal?
This is a good question to ask in order to prioritize the criticality of the spend. If the answer is NO, then someone needs to ask the serious question of why this is even being considered. Then however it gets a bit tricky, but generally speaking;
Augment – This means that the work is already being completed in some other way. This generally will result in a somewhat lower priority level, even if the decision is to rate it lower is an unpopular one due to the increased work.
Enable – This means that the goal simply cannot be completed without the technology in question. This results in a clearly high level of priority.
Fulfill – This means that a function, which is currently being completed with some mixture of work and technology, can now be entirely replaced by technology. (Robotic automation for example.) This is always a tricky question and a thorough analysis of all costs, including those to reputation, image and brand, must be completed. I have found that the answer to this question is most incorrectly arrived at when only the hard business factors are considered.
2. How is the need related to a goal, and will the need or goal change over the next 18-24 months?
This is a very, very important question because it defines the scope of the technology undertaking. For instance, if for example a technology is being selected to satisfy a short-term business goal that will be eliminated over the coming year, then considered solutions should lean towards the lowest possible spend on the most direct point solution available.
On the other hand, if a selected technology is going to satisfy a need related to a long term goal, then as the scope and criticality increases, so should the considered spend. This moves the conversation from point solutions to modules within larger packages, so that a more integrated and enterprise ready approach can be taken.
3. Is the selected technology cost palatable to the organization?
I placed this question third for a reason. This is the last question to ask in this line of reasoning because the answers to questions 1 and 2 will enable you, as a member of senior management/owner/etc, to make a far more educated and informed decision.
Ultimately, this is the “GO/NO GO” upon which a spend will occur, and each decision in this realm will have dozens or hundreds of additional factors which influence the outcome, but by staying focused on your spend alignment with the business plan, you will be well on your way to ensuring that, at the very least, significantly LESS of the money that you spend on technology will be wasted.
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