Your technology needs to optimize your efficiency, otherwise, you become buried in useless tools that only suck up your valuable time, and bottom-line, making you less efficient and productive.

If you’re like most business owners, you employ a variety of devices, utilize various online platforms, and have downloaded a host of apps and programs to help you conduct your daily life and business.

We all love the shiny objects and opportunities to test new tools or play with something we ‘think’ is more fun or better than what we currently have. The grass is always greener, right?

Well, it isn’t. Not ALL of the time.

“Shiny Object Syndrome” and is relatively commonplace amongst business owners who don’t have streamlined business processes to handle everyday operations and organize new ideas. Jennifer Goldman, Business Transformer, CFP

Your fancy tech and tools could be bogging you down. Whether you’re tied to managing the tools, remembering logins (there’s an app for that), creating profiles, figuring your goals and desires for data mining and outcomes, collecting data, sorting data, applying data, thinking about the data, you could be effectively drowning yourself in a sea of wastefulness. As a result, you’re creating more busywork and To Dos to get done.

STOP! Take a minute to consider every tool or platform you use on a daily or monthly basis. List them on paper (or your computer). Did you remember EVERY single one?

According to chiefmartec.com, in 2020, there were over 8,000 tech platforms! Click HERE to see their graphic and blow your mind.

In this 2016 VentureBeat article, their graphic depicts an extensive myriad of platforms to manage inside sales. Here we are in 2022, you can bet that the number of programs has multiplied exponentially.

Let’s dial it back to you and your set of tools and software programs.

Questions about your tech stack:

• Do the tools add to or take away from your collaboration?
• Do your tools add REAL value to your operations and desired outcomes?
• Do your apps offer full integration with each other?
• What would you lose if one of them shut down?
• Is there any redundancy in capabilities or features?
• Are these apps ALL on a do-or-die basis?
• Are there tools you can do without?
• Does the costing fit within or exceed your budget?
• Are you gaining a competitive edge or just using the latest tool?

What will you do with the results of your Tech Stack probe? It is up to you to vet each tool for value-add and benefits across your organization. The investment you make should meet your goals while supporting your team, collaborative partners and corporate mission.

If your tools fall short, or your tech stack looks more like a tornado of shiny objects, create a spreadsheet or chart of choice, to clearly outline the features, benefits, and costs. There’s nothing worse than worthless clutter.

What’s your plan to optimize your tech stack?