Adopting New Technologies: Strategic Guide for Business

Informed decision-making and risk mitigation.

Outline 

• Each new tech innovation brings potential opportunities for the business - being a late adopter may backfire, but investing in every trend is not a solid business strategy. 
• Treating tech as a tool allows you to establish a clear decision-making framework, empowering you to make strategic choices that align with your business goals. 

Building technology adaption strategy for your business 

Cloud computing, web3, spatial computing, AI – tech changes fast. Each innovation brings excitement,  skepticism, and challenges. 

Is the hype sustainable? Should you consider adopting and investing in this technology? What is the best use case for your company? 

Not taking advantage of any new opportunities can cause your business to appear outdated and not competitive. 

However, investing in every trend without seeing a return on investment is not a solid business strategy.   

Framework for decision making 

Imagine buying a new power tool every time you visit a hardware store without knowing what you would use it for—just because it looked really neat on the display.

Then, imagine giving it to your team to figure out how to reach your goals.  

“Here is a hammer drill. Yes, I know we are planting trees now, but hammer drills are cool, and that’s what everyone is using.” 

Regardless of how magical it sounds in the marketing material, technology is a tool to solve problems.  

Each cycle builds on the previous achievements, so tools are becoming better, sometimes cheaper (sometimes not), and more feature-rich—but not every tool is right for every job.  

By treating tech as a tool, you can simplify your decision-making process, ensuring that every new technology you adopt is a strategic solution to a specific problem.  

• Define the project 
• Select the best tool for your project 
• Learn how to use the tool 
• Run a test before going all-in 

Important prerequisite: knowing the market 

I often wander around the hardware store just to see what’s new, and a few exciting finds have saved me multiple hours of DIY projects. 

Innovation involves improving ways to accomplish something. With tech trends changing so quickly, new possibilities often open doors to reducing costs and processing times or making previously impossible tasks achievable.  

Exposure to market creative ideas helps you to spark your own. 

Staying on top of trends does not have to be time–consuming. Subscribing to a few publications would keep you informed.    

The project 

Start by defining your project and its desired end goal. This provides a solid foundation for your technology adoption strategy.  

However, defining undesired side effects is critical for project success. 

When Chevrolet of Watsonville, CA, implemented an AI-powered chatbot in late 2023, its website traffic skyrocketed—but not for the right reason. Internet users quickly discovered that the bot had no context guardrails and would answer any question, just like a ChatGPT subscription. After attracting media attention and facing unplanned computing costs, the chatbot was taken down.     

Finding the best tech tool for your project 

How do others solve similar problems?  

Looking into the most recent best practices (and learning from failures) will give you a good idea of what technology to use and help you discover new approaches, including innovative uses for existing tools. 

Reading use cases is an excellent way to get introduced to a new tech.     

Multi-purpose tools exist, but universal tools do not. 

Remember, a single technology solution won’t solve all your problems. It’s crucial to be realistic and understand the limitations of a tool. Managing expectations is key in technology adoption. 

You can buy a screwdriver with changeable bits, but it cannot hammer nails.   

Learning the tool 

From a business perspective, you may not need to know how the technology works, but the following must be covered: 

• Capabilities: what is possible and what’s not and how limitations may affect your business 
• Risk: compliance, legal exposure, data security, and contingency plans 
• Cost management: budget required to deploy, maintain, and run the solution – including all necessary licenses and training the staff 
• Integration effort: your business time investment to successfully embed the solution in your business operations 
• Support: who will be responsible when something breaks, and how fast can they fix it  

Start small - Create a Proof Of Concept project 

The real value comes from experimenting.

Before fully committing, run a small test to confirm the assumptions, validate the impact on your business, and test your customer’s response. 

POC keeps the initial investment low but provides real-life metrics and uncovers unexpected challenges. 

After the test, an informed decision can be made to either scale up the adoption of the technology or look for better alternatives. The POC effort is never wasted as a new tool can be added to your business technology toolbox, perhaps to be used for a different problem down the road.     

Putting it all together 

Being aware of technology market changes is essential to spark creative thinking about what’s possible. It is also important to be aware of easier ways to solve existing problems, which can reduce cost, complexity, and error rate. 

Before adoption, decide: 

• Is there a high-priority project that solves a business problem? 
• Is this technology the best tool to complete the project? 
• Were tool limitations considered in this particular case? 
• Are there people who know the tool and understand how to use it? 
• Can we define a small scope quick win to test it out?   

Help is a phone call away 

Reach out for a free consultation to discuss the best approach for technology adoption for your business.