The importance of technology for businesses is greater than ever before. However, technology alone is not enough. Without technological advancement, you risk losing a possible advantage over your competition. Worse yet, you run the risk of that competition widening the competitive advantage gap.
You must find new ways to leverage technology because your clients and the competition demand it. It is paramount that all solutions are solid and deliver on the promises that justified the investment.
How do you continuously change your environment and business processes while realizing benefits and not impacting uptime? Rock, meet hard place. The relationship between technology and logistics companies has never been stronger and, simultaneously, more tenuous.
THE PROBLEMS
In his article “Leveraging Technology to Accelerate Productivity and Profit,” Chuck Fuerst, vice president of 3Gtms, writes, “With the right investments in technology now – and by keeping an eye on future needs – 3PLs can make their business more attractive to current and potential clients by offering additional value-added services, superior inventory control, and overall cost reduction.” The time to invest in technology and improving processes is now.
Think about the changes that have swept through the logistics industry in the past 10 years. Think of the tremendous amount of efficiency realized and the enhanced connectivity to customers with those advancements. Mobile devices alone have revolutionized the way businesses go about daily operations. Now think of the turbulence, false starts and wasted investments that were by-products of this process. What steps are you taking to mitigate your risk in future technology investments?
A survey of IT executives by the software development firm Geneca reveals that 75 percent of IT executives have no confidence in their organization’s ability to deliver on stated project goals and outcomes. The same study found that 80 percent of those executives spend a large portion of their team’s time on re-work. How do organizations in a dynamic industry like logistics avoid these pitfalls? The answer is professional and formal project management.
THE SOLUTION
• Aligned Goals and Outcomes: Professional project management ensures clear and business-aligned requirements are collected and integrated into the solution delivery. At Afidence, we leverage a deep base of expertise across multiple methodologies and industries to ensure your technology investment meets your needs and provides the ROI that you demand.
• Communication: This is a core tenant of any project. Shockingly, this is a major and consistent source of failure when formal project management is not leveraged. Eighty-seven percent of IT executives surveyed in the Geneca study felt they were not always in agreement with their staff that a project was actually complete. At Afidence, we leverage clear, concise and consistent communication to ensure your team is apprised of project status at all times.
• Proper Budgeting: The only thing worse than not realizing the efficiency and ROI of a technology investment is doing so late and over budget. Afidence consultants pull from a wealth of experience to ensure pitfalls to budget and timelines are avoided or minimized.
RESULT: MORE CAPACITY
By delivering in a consistent and predictable way, your budget can be leveraged for expanded innovation instead of attempting to fix what wasn’t properly delivered in the first place. More capacity to innovate and bring improved functionality to your customer base increases engagement and creates an opportunity to serve more customers with the same tech stack.
Afidence is a technology consulting and services firm located at 309 Reading Rd, Mason, OH 45040. For more information, email TrustedAdvisor@afidence.com or visit www.afidence.com.