It takes money and brains to do technology well. Just like anything else that matters.
We’ve reached an era where high-quality technology offers unprecedented ability to superpower work and increase overall effectiveness.
But if you think you can hire some junior admin and throw them to the wolves, or outsource everything while barely paying attention — while trimming budgets, limiting staff time, or rushing things that deserve careful attention — you. are. inviting. disaster.
That’s not an exaggeration. These disasters are everywhere, ubiquitous and predictable. Ask around. Perhaps even look around within your own organization.
If you’re ready to get real about what it takes to get out of the ditch, and embrace the opportunity of making everything that everyone in your organization does a bit easier, a bit better, a little bit at a time, all the time, forevermore... then you can get on the road to an unimaginably better future.
You need to hire great staff. That’s not cheap. You need external experts on speed dial. That’s not cheap. You need to purchase tools that really work. That’s not cheap. You’re probably going to need seasoned guidance along the way. That’s not cheap, either.
I get it. Every dollar spent is a dollar you must raise. You have to be brutally careful with your resources. But you will end up paying, one way or the other. You can save money now and drive into a predictably expensive ditch where your systems actively hold everyone back, leave you with piles of incomprehensible data, frustrate your attempts to represent yourself professionally in the world, and leave countless future opportunities un-grasped. Or you could face the music, do what it takes to set yourself up right, and build a great, ever-improving operation, on into the future.
Ask yourself: what are you investing in? What are you wrestling with? Where are you bringing true expertise to bear? What details do you scrutinize and insist on getting right? Some parts of your organization get this sort of focus, no doubt. Probably many.
Well, your technology has the power to make all this work exponentially more effective, and when poorly done it also has the power to render them all useless, knocking them out of the race before it’s begun.
There’s a road you can take to the promised land, we see it at work all the time in organizations of all sizes and descriptions. But in practice it takes real money, the right people, and serious time, focus, and commitment.
It’s not easy, simple, or cheap. But it’s worth it. It will enable your organization to make the best of every ounce of its being.