How can you get the quickest return on your investments in technology?
As we look ahead to the coming decade, technology will become increasingly critical for your company to stay competitive. New technology can include CAD, CAE, PLM, 3D printing, IoT, and more. However, for that technology to work for your business, your implementation must be successful. With a new technology, often it is the cultural changes that can derail the project. Starting with a plan to overcome challenges like this can be the most important part of a successful implementation. Tech-Clarity’s Ten Practices to Successfully Implement Technology shares 10 best practices to support the implementation and adoption of new technology so that you can get the expected return on your technology investments as quickly as possible.
Please enjoy the summary* below.
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HOW CAN YOU GET THE MOST FROM YOUR TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENTS?
Staying competitive in today’s global market means developing exceptional products that are innovative, high quality, and cost-effective. With so much to consider, how can you get ahead? For many, technology, including software tools, is the answer. Technology investments can help you grow your business, expand your customer base, and extend your services. With great software tools, you can accomplish more than you thought possible. Unfortunately, ignoring opportunities for improvement can stagnate the business, which can eventually lead to lost market share.
The key is selecting the right technology solution and successfully adopting it. This eBook identifies best practices for successful technology adoption to position your company for success for the next decade.
TECHNOLOGY SUPPORTS INNOVATION EFFORTS
Outsource vs. Internal Development?
Innovation often requires new skills. Many find they lack the internal expertise to take advantage of new materials, use the latest manufacturing techniques, support connectivity, or benefit from other industry advancements. When faced with this challenge, you can outsource or try to develop the skills internally. Regardless of which option you choose, technology will make it easier.
Support Outsourcing with Technology
For some, outsourcing can be a great option as a way to tap into expertise that you lack. When outsourcing, technology can ensure good collaboration, support communication, keep design data in sync, and protect intellectual property. As an example, cloud solutions can offer a platform to share data with third parties in a secure manner.
Technology Lowers Internal Development Cost
For other companies, especially smaller businesses, the overhead associated with outsourcing may be too much. It takes time to familiarize a third party with your product lines, manage quality, and coordinate changes, especially for highly engineered products. In these cases, it may be easier to do everything in-house. Again, technology can make that easier with software tools that have embedded intelligence to guide the design or manufacturing process.
RECOMMENDATIONS AND NEXT STEPS
Technology can have a significantly impact on your business in a positive way. It can be the key to help you expand, grow, and evolve your business. However, as good as the technology may be, it will only help your company if you take the right steps to ensure the adoption is successful.
The following checklist will help you achieve success:
- Determine Your Business Needs Upfront
- Be Open to Change
- Keep the Focus on Customers
- Consider Vision and Future Needs
- Keep it Simple
- Automate Tedious Workflows
- Manage Scope
- Manage the Role of Team Members
- Overcome the Resistance to Change
- Provide Training
- Establish Success Factors
By following these ten recommendations, your company will be better positioned to successfully adopt technology and realize the expected ROI even faster.
*This summary is an abbreviated version of the eBook and does not contain the full content. A link to download the full eBook is available above.
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