The technology assessment process is the evaluation of a business's information technology (IT) department to improve its overall performance. The analysis results will determine the IT infrastructure's strengths, weaknesses, capabilities, and limitations. This enables managers to improve security measures, operational efficiency, and other business strategies.
This evaluation method takes a proactive approach to maintenance to prevent malfunction rather than reacting to them. However, most startups and medium-size companies use the break-fix response, where they only focus on operations that require fixing. While this may seem to save maintenance and labor costs, this approach can cause significant damages.
Here’s the harsh reality—an infrastructure with older technology does more harm than good. In the long-term, outdated technology can impose long-term issues that can result in costly downtime and expensive break-fix repairs.
Many companies procrastinate moving to new technology because the current system continues to work adequately and transitioning all at one time seems too difficult and might lead to disruptions in workflow. But unstable servers that require frequent rebooting, security appliances that are no longer supported, failing printers, and the use of dated wireless devices can result in costly downtime for staff and customers. The unexpected cost to repair these failures often results in only temporary solutions.
The steps involved in an assessment are Discovery, Analysis, Development, and Planning. The discovery stage will uncover the technology you have and how it’s performing. The Analysis phase will analyze the current functionality of internal processes and how it’s applied. The Development state will create a strong understanding of operational gaps and the technical strategy needed to accomplish overall goals. The next step is to design and consolidate the information in a technology roadmap. This should be a high-level overview with a definitive explanation of what problems are being solved and the details of implementation and deployment. It should also include any project deadlines, other timelines, and assign roles and responsibilities to individuals involved. Finally, communicate the plan effectively to the technology team and key executives.
Using the correct hardware and software technology tools can help give companies the competitive advantage needed to be successful. First, a technology assessment makes it much more likely to get a solution that suits your requirements and environment. Without an assessment, you could end up solving a symptom with an expensive technology that is ill-equipped to address the need at hand. There is also the risk that the technology you chose might be obsolete sooner than you may think.
A structured process to assess and select a technology solution helps you get around this problem, reduce risks, and achieve your true objective, by forcing you to both identify the right problem and solve it in the right way. The selection process can be challenging for any company in the modern world of constantly changing technology variables. That’s why it’s so important to contact an expert team, like CareServ to help you visualize your ideal outcome.
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