THE HIDDEN TECHNOLOGY DEBT

Technology Debt is not a new term but it’s one that company owners don’t keep an eye on, because they’re hidden, and they do not show on the financial statements.  Technology Debt is the cost of doing a small less effective maintenance fix/solution on a company’s infrastructure or the choice of not doing anything at all. It’s the cost for kicking the “can” down the road.

Are Short-Term Fixes Worth it?

This is a true hidden cost, it is in every company, and it effects every business decision on your company’s infrastructure.   Sound important, it is, and business owners run the fine line on what and where we put our resources every day.  When we put off on making long term decisions, the short ones keep piling up in spent resources, like Employees not working, Customer’s orders not processing, IT team repairing and researching solutions, and the cost of short-term fixes.

I like to think of this concept with real items to help make my point.  If I own a truck or a piece of equipment, that is at its end of life, the question comes when the equipment has a problem, do I keep putting money into what I have and take my chances or do I replace it.  Chances are we end up fixing the issue with a short-term fix, as the issue is a fire we have today.

That cost was a short-term cost, the amount of time the truck or equipment was down it was a cost, the lack of service to my customer was a cost, the down time I had to pay my employee to not work was a cost, the amount of money I paid to get it fixed again was a cost.  If you truly look at all those costs to fix it as a short-term fix, they add up and hinder our sight on what a long-term solution would do for your company.  This is what we call Technology Debt.

As a business owner we sometimes get caught up in the short term and do not see how it effects other parts of our company.  Those choices sometimes guide us in making decisions that may carry negative consequences for the company. Complete a clear, metric assessment of the time and cost your IT department spent keeping your out-of-date systems running compared the time and cost spent on growing or transforming your business. Your IT team should be paving the way for you to be more competitive and driving growth.

How Does this Relate to your ERP solution?

When your ERP solution requires a system upgrade, it’s best to stay current and upgrade to the newest version. Staying current on all upgrades will save you time, money, and frustration.

If your ERP solution needs to be upgraded or you have questions about upgrading your system, ACC is here to help. Contact a support specialist today!