12 tips to optimize your company’s technology investments

Businesses often face the ongoing challenge of balancing budgets with investing resources for growth. This is especially true for technologies that require frequent or expensive purchases to keep up with ever-evolving advances.

Spending only what you need and coming up with creative alternative solutions can be helpful, but knowing where to start and how to navigate different market options can be difficult. To make this task a little less difficult, his 12 members of the Newsweek Expert Forum share top tips for optimizing your company’s technology investments.

1. Leverage cloud-based, scalable solutions

Maximizing value while minimizing costs is fundamental to business survival. In today’s economy, investing in technology is especially important for creating alternative solutions through rapid innovation. To optimize the total cost of ownership of technology investments with limited budgets, businesses can leverage cloud-based, agile, and scalable open source solutions across their products and services. – Lillian Gregory, The 4D Unicorn LLC

2. Introduction of technology exchange syndicate

Adopt and implement technology exchange syndicates. Join or create a consortium of companies to share or exchange lightly used software licenses and technology. The mutual exchange system is based on the concept of a circular economy and not only fosters community collaboration but also optimizes investments in technology. It’s also a sustainable idea to reduce waste. – Dr. Kira Graves, Kira Graves Consulting

3. Embrace the “less is more” philosophy

By embracing the “less is more” philosophy, companies can optimize their technology investments in today’s economy. Prioritize technology that scales and adapts to changing needs, ensuring you invest in solutions that deliver long-term business value. Foster innovation by exploring open source alternatives and fostering a culture where employees close to customers can contribute creative technology solutions. – Bala Sathyanarayanan, GREIF Inc.

4. Understand the current state of AI

Believe the hype around artificial intelligence because it is a game-changer in terms of cost management. Every executive wants to know how to use AI to improve the productivity of their existing workforce, how it can replace certain human functions, and how it can do things that weren’t possible in the past. You need to evaluate how it can help you. Taking stock now and planning accordingly will save you money down the road. – Peter Marber, Aperture Investors

5. Invest proactively and collaboratively

In today’s capital-constrained environment, companies need to be proactive with their investment strategies. Improving capital planning processes and controls, leveraging tools and automation to anticipate market needs, and increasing collaboration between key organizations such as product, sales, and finance organizations will optimize investments and drive profitability. Helps promote high growth. – Steve Smith, Zayo

6. Invest in growth tools that align with company goals

Regularly audit your tech stack to ensure you’re investing in tools that drive growth and align with your goals. Audits help identify underutilized resources, outdated systems, and inefficiencies. This process helps drive informed decisions about where to invest in upgrades, what to scale back, and where to reallocate resources. – Jergo Valli, Lensa

7. Evaluate ROI and consider lower cost alternatives first

Businesses can optimize their technology investments by evaluating ROI and providing a justification report that details the investment. Before investing in expensive solutions, leaders should consider alternative solutions such as free trials and employee upskilling. – Alan Wozniak, Business Health Matters (BHM) Executive Consulting

8. Evaluate tool implementation

Evaluate your implementation. Features and tools that aren’t deployed mean value and cost are stuck. Conduct an audit to evaluate your implementation and reduce or eliminate what you no longer use. – Karen Mangia, Engineered Innovation Group

9. Conducting regular audits

To optimize technology investments, companies should conduct regular audits to identify underutilized tools and seek cost-effective solutions. By aligning technology investments with strategic goals, prioritizing critical upgrades, and fostering a culture of innovation, companies can spend wisely and leverage technology capabilities without unnecessary spending. can be maximized. -Anna Yusim, MD, Yusim Psychiatry, Consulting and Executive Coaching

10. Adopt a “Lean IT” approach

We take a “Lean IT” approach to maximize customer value by using IT resources efficiently, eliminating waste, and streamlining processes. By applying the principles of Lean methodology (which originated in manufacturing and has since been successfully applied in a variety of sectors, including IT), companies can make more informed and effective technology investments. Masu. – Britton Block, Navy Federal Forces

11. Measure technical impact on KPIs

To ensure the effectiveness of a technology solution, it is important to continuously monitor its performance and measure its impact on key performance indicators. This practice helps organizations identify areas for improvement, optimize resource allocation, and make informed decisions about future technology investments. – Tammy Sands, Tennessee Nursery School

12. Weigh investments by ROI

The secret to investing wisely in technology is to weigh your technology investment against the ROI it provides. This is very important when considering your technology stack. There are so many wonderful things in the world that you may feel like you need a lot of things when you don’t. Understand how much you use a particular technology product and whether it will increase your revenue within six months. – Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure