I’m a great fan of technology and, in particular, stuff that enhances our lives or makes our lives a little easier. However, I am also a great fan of stuff that works and works well for all users, particularly when it comes to business.

We all know that technology can help businesses in a number of ways including:

• Remember key data
• Improve efficiency
• Make it easier to buy
• Manage and store data
• Make it easier to communicate
• Find new customers
• Manage costs
• Track developments in operations, delivery, problem solving and projects
• etc

However, one of the things that I find frustrating is that many businesses adopt or implement technology for reasons of cost and making their life easier and spend little time thinking about how it will impact on their users – their employees and customers.

These are great reasons to consider new technology but before you implement anything to help improve effeciency in your business, manage costs or improve communication, one of the biggest things that you need to be aware of is its ability to interface and engage with your audience – your team and your customers.

Remember there is a person at the end of every keyboard, phone, pdq etc and we need to ask whether our technology solution is a solution to our problems or a solution to theirs. To make your technology a solution to their problems ask yourself some questions like these:

• Is this technology simple to use?
• Does it enhance the user or customer experience?
• Does it make my team’s life easier?
• Will it, in turn, motivate them to use it and engage with it or us more?
• Are they using something similar already?
• Will it require minimal training?
• Is it very new or very old technology (relatively)? There are dangers with each.
• Is this software very new? Is there a danger that not enough testing has been done on it?
• Is the technology old and it may become obsolete sooner than later?

Finally, I want to make the point that at the origin and end of every piece of technology is a person, an employee, a team member, a brand ambassador, an investor or a customer. Let’s not forget that. If we keep that in mind I am sure that it will make our invest in and use of technology more worthwhile.

Have you implemented technology for all the ‘right’ reasons (cost, efficiency etc) only for it not to be used? Please share your stories and what lessons you learned with us.

Thanks to br1dotcom for the image