Software as a Service (SaaS) is a double-edged sword. When managed well, it’s a high-performance engine for growth; when ignored, it becomes a silent bleeder, slowly draining your budget through automated monthly charges that no one is tracking. The question isn’t whether you need SaaS—you do. The question is whether your SaaS is working for you, or if you’re just working to pay for it.
The Trojan Horse didn’t succeed because the Grecian armies broke down the walls of Troy; it succeeded because the Trojans fell for the Greek army’s trick and brought the secret war machine—with a small group of Greek soldiers—inside their walls. It was a tactically brilliant plan, and ended what was reportedly a decade-long siege in a matter of hours. Whether or not the original story is based in truth, your business is potentially in danger from a similar issue: a threat coming in on what seems to be a trustworthy package. The difference is that this time, the package is a platform or tool you’ve procured from a third-party vendor.
Does your business operate in the moment, or does it prioritize what’s just around the corner? As a business owner, you have a tricky balance to strike between the two, and where technology is concerned, the answer is not always so clear-cut. But it’s generally better for your business to look at technology management with the perspective offered by an IT roadmap to inform your decision-making, from everyday implementations to major deployments.
In its current form, Artificial Intelligence is a bit like a highly gifted but incredibly literal intern. If you don’t provide a crystal-clear roadmap, it will happily lead you down a “digital rabbit hole,” burning through your team’s billable hours and patience.
Is your network infrastructure a Frankenstein’s monster of mismatched tools and quick fixes? This is what most small business IT looks like; companies adopt solutions without a thought as to how they are supposed to work together, and it ultimately ends up impacting operations. This creates tech debt, and not the monetary kind, that is hard to bounce back from without taking a serious look at your IT practices.