Keeping up with the Jones’ can be financially disastrous on a personal scale — and a professional scale. If you’re finding yourself doing a lot of “keeping up” with competitors, there’s some things that you need to know.
Technology Is Extremely Personal for a Business
It’s easy to see something that a competitor is doing and assume that you need to replicate it. But in truth, the technology that works well for a business is very unique to that business. Your competitor’s POS system may be more advanced than yours, but it may also be tailored to do something that they do and that you don’t.
Newer Technology Is Always Exponentially More Expensive
Buying something the moment that it comes out is always going to be far more expensive than buying it a year or even a few months afterwards. Most businesses don’t need to be on the “bleeding edge,” and they certainly don’t need to invest in unproven technologies.
Technology Should Always Be Future-Proofed
When invested in, a technology shouldn’t be purchased simply to exist until the next buying cycle. Instead, technology should always have a path towards the future — there should be an upgrade plan already in place that will save the company money as services are upgraded. Purchasing products on a whim can disrupt this.
Tech Always Has to Work Together
A whole system generally has to be created from the ground up for the best integration of software and services. When purchasing technology piece meal, issues of implementation and integration can easily come up. This is why it’s almost always in the best interests of a company to have their system infrastructure designed from the very foundation — and to avoid any customization from then on unless it is truly justified by careful research.
But You Still Do Need to Keep Up
Finally, there’s a caveat: you still do need to keep up on technology. You just need to do it the right way. Rather than focusing on what the competition has, you need to focus on what your business needs. On some level, keeping up with the Jones’ is not only unavoidable but also necessary. But it is your business that controls how it does so.
Companies today need to invest in their technology if they are going to survive — but that technology has to be carefully studied, implemented, and future-proofed. Business owners may want to seek experienced help when setting up and maintaining their technology infrastructures.
