How Sustainable Is Your Technology?

My high school-aged daughter, Blair, came home last week with an English assignment. Her teacher asked her to write a paper about sustainability and how it impacts Blair’s teenage life.  It was a good question even though Blair didn’t necessarily like the project. As we discussed it throughout dinner, it made me think more and more on how technology has made everything from the horse and buggy, to brick and mortar stores, to how we view pictures, unsustainable for the long term. Evolution is reality – just ask Eastman Kodak.

We have all heard the percentages on how companies that sustain a long-term outage of their technology will be going out of business within the next 72 hours… or something like that.  Regardless of what the actual facts are, there are definitely long term repercussions to the business.  If you don’t have a solid technology plan in place for voice services, data connectivity, server infrastructure, or network security – your business won’t sustain long term regardless of how shiny your penny is.

I often see organizations that want to control their whole technology environment with limited outsourcing to a best-of-breed partner or vendor.  As the world of technology evolves, it makes it tougher for organizations to have specialists for all the different silos on staff. In addition, the integration of technologies makes it nearly impossible for the in-house personnel to manage making all the moving parts work smoothly together. The companies that embrace integration and work with best-of-breed partner organizations are often more productive and profitable.

What is your strategy and is it as sustainable as it needs to be for your organization?

At CTG we talk about this continually with our clients – more thought provoking than anything.  If you need a second opinion find a best-of-breed partner that will push you to a different way of thinking or better yet – just ask my daughter’s English teacher!!