Business Finds

Planning can come in all shapes and forms, while there are some common forms of planning. That are used by almost every one in business, such as a business plan, or a marketing plan. There are some less common forms of planning. Things like a Technology Plan, Exit Plan, succession plan and even E-Business Plan. Looking at the Technology plan thought this can be an import factor for some in their business.

Looking at what you may want to include in your technology plan, can be an interesting mix of information. Some of it may seem obvious while other parts maybe not so obvious.

• How you use technology – Before your even consider the purchase of any technology products you need to look at how your business is going to make use of these products. For example it is no good buying the latest and greatest point of sale technology if it is going to be hardly used. Whereas trying to work with second hand cash registers in a high volume retail store.
• What is the best Technology – Once you have established how you will use technology, do a little research and find out what is the best technology you could have. What is the best technology and what you can afford are not always going to be the same thing, so also research at the same time what other similar technology that may be suitable is available.
• Your Budget – Setting a budget for technology, should not be seen as creating a long list of expenses, your technology purchases should be seen as investing in your business. To carry on from the example above, while it may cost a lot more money to have the latest point of sale technology, if you were in a high volume retail business this additional investment in technology would help to greatly improve your customer experience. While all technology is not perfect, using second hand cash registers would more than likely create more down time, and give you less ability to track your business.
• Define your needs – Finally once you know how you use technology, and what is available, it comes time to define what you are actually going to use. This really takes a little working with what is available and what you have available for this investment in terms of budget. In almost every case while you may want what is best the budget often cannot stretch to meet this. So it can mean making some hard decisions.
• Look to the future – As we know technology doesn’t last forever, and as such there is always going to be a point in the future where it needs to be updated. As such it is worth looking at what period you are comfortable in writing off the cost of your equipment and where it is going to benefit most for you to upgrade. There will of course be a number of factors that come into play here. The first is if you originally purchased or leased the equipment. Second is overall value, some equipment costs more and is designed to last longer then other equipment, taking this into consideration is important.

While a technology plan is not essential it can help you to see a little better just where your business is going in term’s of staying current, and making the most use of technology. It can also assist you in your longer term financial planning to see when and where you are going to need funds available to upgrade your infrastructure. Have you created a technology plan, has it help you in business, let us know in the comments below.

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Business Planning by Business Finds