When a business carries older technology in order to save money they accumulate technical debt.  Technical debt is accompanied by two major costs: the cost of ownership and the cost of change.  The cost of change becomes prohibitive as technology debt piles up.  This debt should be treated as you would any other liability.When a business carries older technology in order to save money they accumulate technical debt.  Technical debt is accompanied by two major costs: the cost of ownership and the cost of change.  The cost of change becomes prohibitive as technology debt piles up.  This debt should be treated as you would any other liability.

The build-up of technical debt eventually leads to a loss of customers, loss of business, loss of efficiencies, data breaches, compliance violations, and more.

Technical Debt in Operations

Your overall technical evaluation should begin with attention to the operational perspective. From here you can evaluate workflow, communications, efficiency, and the cost associated with manual processes.

Technical debt within operations results in higher labor costs due to redundant roles and limited automation.  It also results in reduced responsiveness and reduced awareness of client needs. In beginning to eliminate technical debt, companies should evaluate a number of functions within the organization, and the effectiveness of these functions.  This should involve assessing any issues and risks already identified in the organization as well as isolating their root causes. The results of this evaluation will reveal any duplicate functions and roles, as well as areas of excess labour costs and workforce engagement.  Proper gap analysis will produce recommendations for enabling and engaging the workforce.

With a complete view of technology debt in your operations you then need to shift your focus to undoing the processes that have produced it. At this point it is wise to adopt a lean and agile approach to technology upgrades.  Although there are a number of solutions to help you eliminate technical debt, it is critical to remember the big picture and change management.

The Big Picture

It’s so easy to troll the internet and discover fantastic point fixes for all of your operational issues.  If you need help with booking appointments, executing an internet search for “booking engine”, or “online booking tools” will give you 1,000 answers. And if you narrow your search to your industry, “online booking tools for health spas,” for example, you will narrow your results to 50. This is the greatest advantage, and the greatest disadvantage of the “software as a service” industry today.

The challenge is not picking the best service tool for your need, it is in picking the one that is best for you.  This is where you need to be entirely clear about what you are trying to accomplish.  What are your business needs?  Do you need to integrate with an existing website?   Do you have data privacy concerns?  Will this tool function within your operational margins?  Do you need a payment engine?  Do you need to integrate with an accounting or reporting tool?  Who gets notified and when?

When eliminating technical debt, be sure to complete a full evaluation of your organization before making changes.   Being agile in today’s industry is important, but quickly implementing solutions without knowing the master plan is not being agile, it’s just moving fast.

Change Management

Every problem is an opportunity for a new solution.  Now that you have chosen your tool, the next step is to make sure you get what you want.  We call this “return on investment.”

The biggest problem with implementations big and small is often that the intended value is not realized.  We have seen some of the most expensive solution integrations fail within the first one to three years because expectations were not met.

A new tool means new habits, new processes, and new skills.  Change management refers to the process of learning the new tools, educating those around us on how these new tools will impact them, and investing the time it takes to master the new tools.

Getting a new and fancy website is great, but this change requires management.  Today with solutions like WordPress, SiteCore, Adobe AEM and more, marketing teams can skip the step of having a developer make changes to their content.  This could save a great deal of money in the operational flow, it will improve time to market, and will attract new customers by keeping your site relevant.  However, this means a few things:  Your operations team needs to know how to update their site.  They need to know where to store and maintain digital assets, they need to know how to publish changes, and review those changes.  Also, to be sure those changes are accessibility compliant, and that they meet any other compliance standards your company may need to be concerned with.

Proper change management strategies will ensure that your team is trained for these changes, and the new processes are implemented and designed to align with the original intent of these changes as well as integrated into the existing routines.  This will ensure you are not shifting responsibilities from one place to another, creating an imbalance in your workforce.  Proper change management will be adaptable to allow for the learning curve and changes derived from daily lessons learned.

Measurable Goals

As you begin the process of eliminating technical debt, you will need to establish goals for the changes you will make after your implementation. Proper governance and reviews that monitor and verify measurable outcomes will ensure you have realized your return.  We will cover creating and measuring goals in an upcoming post.

Eliminating technical debt is much easier today than it was in the past.  Can services level the playing field, allowing small and medium sized businesses to compete easily with large and enterprise-sized operations?  The key is hard work and focus, which when you think about it shifts the balance to the agile small and mid-sized businesses.

If you need more information or have any questions contact us today.  Let us help you go do what you do best, while we take care of the rest.

About INDATUM

Indatum is technical consulting firm dedicated to the success of small and medium sized business.

Call us today to learn how to eliminate technical debt in your organization.

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INDATUM|  www.INDATUM.ca   |  @INDATUM_GODO  
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