Part I: Guidelines for Implementing Technology In Any Enterprise

This is Part I of a presentation I am doing; a work in progress which will be published as an online book on March 22nd, 2005, under a Creative Commons License.

Enterprises of any size, including NGOs, should follow some basic guidelines when implementing Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Adding a computer and lots of software doesn't solve problems: People solve problems. Technology is just a tool. these are some guidelines.

Mind Your Own Business

One of the first stages in adapting technology into an organization is knowing what your business is. If you have a failing organization and you don't know why it's failing - no amount of technology will save your business.

If the enterprise is losing money because there are no sales, perhaps technology could be used for that - a website or other internet based technologies might help - but if nobody is interested in your statues of naked dodos, having a website won't make a drastic difference. Of course, people who design websites will tell you that it's exactly what you need - but if you believe any web designer that walks in off the street, the problem with your business should be apparent.

I was approached recently to computerize a business related to servicing electric motors. The problem is that all the documentation for the past 70 years is not-so-neatly filed in boxes around the office. A computer could help with that, but it still requires someone from the company to go through and decide what is entered into the databases and what isn't. It still requires all the information which is decided to be important to be input into to databases. It requires the people within the company to explain how they use the data - which many people think they can do until they are asked to write it down.

One person told the owner of the company that they needed a website, and perhaps they do - but all that website needs to be is an online business card.¹ Word of mouth and an established reputation are where this business makes it's money; the problems after some discussion ended up being generating quotations and collecting debts. Those problems can be addressed through technology.

Knowing what the problems of the enterprise are important if you actually want to fix the enterprise. Software written by people thousands of miles away won't help you unless the problems to be solved are identified and understood. It's important to Mind Your Own Business before the next stage because your problems may not be the same.

In the end, adapting technology to your business is more about business logic than technology itself.

Mind Other People's Business

If the enterprise has competition, after you have minded your own business you need to see what others are doing as solutions.

As far as websites, that's fairly easy to see - go visit their website. Know that no matter how attractive a website is, it doesn't mean it's successful. What makes a website successful is determined by what the site is supposed to do and what it actually does - and unless you know someone inside the company who is interested in giving you information, you won't know what's working for your competitor.

But you can look at the site and see if some of what they are doing would be useful for you.

Internal use of technology might not be on their website - but it can be made apparent through the experienced eye of someone who can map what is on the website to what they have to be doing to have the website working as it is. Consider Amazon.com - you can see that they have a very useful website, and you can also see that they have a database of all the online products which they sell in the background. Therefore, to compete with Amazon, you have to have your products in a database and accessible through your website at least as good as Amazon.com, if not better. That means that behind the website, deep within the company, there needs to be business logic.

In Trinidad and Tobago, the now defunct M.I.T. Enterprises was one of the first printshops which used desktop publishing. Because of it, the company generated artwork so rapidly that other printshops had their artwork done by M.I.T. Enterprises; additional revenue came in because of a new use of a technology - not copying someone else. So while you're observing the competition, bear in mind that you're not trying to catch the competition - you're trying to pass them.

Acknowledge The Obvious

If over the years you have migrated typewriters from the office and replaced them with computers - take a look and see if all you have done is buy modern typewriters. If that's the case, then you've spent more money than you probably would have on a typewriter. That means that there is less return on investment, or worse - a distinct loss. If you spend more money on something, generally speaking you should get more out of it.

If your organization has email and you don't use it, effectively your organization doesn't have email.

Computer hardware and software is no different. It's an employee, and when an employee becomes non-productive and disruptive it's generally good principle to let the employee go. If you're using outdated technology - even if your competitors are - you're losing a potential jump on your competition and a way to further establish your organization's name in your field.

The technology you purchase is an investment for your enterprise. Anything you spend money on in an enterprise, generally speaking, should at least pay for itself and it's replacement. That should be obvious to any business.

In following sections, we'll explore more specific aspects of ICT in Small and Medium Enterprises.

¹If you don't believe me, reference 'The Online Rules of Successful Companies: The Fool-Proof Guide to Building Profits', by Robin 'Roblimo' Miller.