When individuals contemplate IT they typically reflect on the ways in which they have been exposed and impacted by IT services. Often services like setting up computers and fixing printers come to mind. These services frequently equate to “IT help” in the minds of many, but they are very much the simplest forms of IT services and veil the in-depth, technical solutions IT truly encompasses. For some more technically savvy business folks, disaster recovery, file backups, cloud and unified communications are also included under the IT services umbrella. However, there is another incredible way IT can be used to empower businesses that many still do not embrace. When it comes to utilizing IT for optimization and scaling, there are still gray areas for many.
Historically, IT has been inaccurately (or sometimes accurately if the infrastructure was not set up correctly) viewed as a cost center, instead of a money-making line of business. The thought that IT is a necessary part of running the business is great, but the assumption IT simply needs to be done versus should be architected in a way that can generate actual or passive revenue is a missed opportunity for many companies. Embracing IT as a tool to empower your company and reach objectives allows for a vastly different way of conducting business.
The pandemic quickly made many companies realize the importance of IT solutions in day-to-day business and collaboration, but we still see many companies who do not fully understand the size of the IT net they should be casting to fully embrace empowering their business through IT. One way to fully enable your company is by redefining past definitions of tech stacks and accepting a broader approach.
Modernizing your definition of a tech stack to include your business applications, not just the technical team’s tools, is the direction forward-thinking companies are moving. Including your go-to-market teams like Marketing, Sales, and Customer Service in your definition of your tech stack opens new doors for efficiencies and optimization. One of the most important exercises we suggest completing is an in-depth review of your business tech stack.
We often see companies with teams that individually purchase and use tools specific to their work. However, these decisions are often made in a silo, which frequently cause redundancies and inefficiencies in your business tech stack. Funneling these decisions through your IT team, or an outside IT consultant, can identify which tools perform similar functions and save your business time and money. In addition, and very importantly, the more tools your business has tied together, the easier it is for your teams to access data in a complete view, rather than pulling data from different sources and tying it together after. This enables them to make quick, data-informed decisions. For example, maybe your marketing team’s CRM system also has ticketing capabilities. Great! Now you likely do not have to spend the money and time onboarding a new ticketing system for your customer care team and, with a complete data picture, that team can see what type of website activity customers had before a complaint ticket. Or, maybe the tools your sales team are using can also tie into your paid advertising, removing a hurdle for Marketing as they look to identify lead sources more accurately. Finding ways to eliminate duplicate spend, reduce tools, marry data, and streamline your business tech stack should be in the forefront of your IT team’s mind.
Creating space and prioritizing these optimization opportunities are exactly what allows a business to scale and go to market with their ideas quicker. When all teams are functioning seamlessly, funds are freed up from redundancies, and your go-to-market teams are tying data together faster and quickly pivoting based on what they see, your business becomes flexible and can scale as needed.
It is our hope that more businesses will begin to realize the value of their “business tech stack” and make positive improvements to ensure their business operates and grows in the most effective way possible. Contact us if you feel your business could benefit from an in-depth view of your business etch stack.