By Keith Millett | Jun 07, 2018 | Blog
Launching new technology, whether it’s an application or other initiatives, is an exciting and critical part of an IT organization’s growth. To stay on track to a successful technology launch, your company is most likely already seeking ways to reduce any possible risks that could impact the launch. But without breaking the bank, how can your organization be certain that it’s covered all of its bases and that everything will go as smoothly as planned?
Let’s take a quick look at three easy ways you can reduce the risk of launching your new technology.
1. Maintain Clear Communication
Before and during the start of any project, you’ll want to ensure that all of your teams, including vendors and management, agree with the technology’s goals, whether it’s to implement something new or make changes to an existing application.
From there, it’s absolutely critical to maintain communication so everyone is part of the process. If any issues arise, clear and constant communication helps mitigate the amount of time your teams need to devote to finding a solution. This is especially important during the testing phase prior to deployment with your end user populations; if one person on your team misunderstands the purpose of the new technology, it could lead to unanticipated issues that significantly throw off your deployment schedule.
2. Testing: 1, 2, 3…
Regardless of how anxious your organization is to launch your new, cutting-edge technology, it is critical to incorporate an additional step of proof of concept or pilot program for your end users. Testing with user groups greatly reduces the risk of launching your technology with issues, as users will provide direct feedback that can be resolved before the product goes public. In fact, taking your initiative from production to purchase in one step is so reckless that it simply shouldn’t be an option.
How long it takes to test your technology depends entirely on its complexity—some initiatives take only a few days, but others may require as long as a few weeks. This duration will have been determined at the beginning of the project, especially if you chose to work with a third-party partner that helps you establish benchmarks and goals to reduce the risk associated with launching your new technology.
3. Consult With a Trusted IT Partner
One of the most lucrative ways to reduce the risk of launching new technology is to consult with a trusted IT partner that treats your organization and goals as its own. These organizations work with you in a number of ways to reduce your risk.
The first step in this process is to identify the intended result of your technology. From there, the IT consultant will work with you to identify the best-in-breed technology to implement your desired solution in a way that both solves the business challenge and reduces the customer’s acquisition risk. After all, there are a large number of technological solutions for any given problem, as well as a myriad of approaches you could take. As a result, it’s important for a consultant to not come to the table with a preconceived solution; instead, they need to partner with you to analyze your situation.
Final Thoughts
CTI is an IT consulting and solutions company committed to ensuring that your long-term business goals are met through the right technology. With our fully integrated, turnkey IT solutions, we bring you good, better, best solution options so your internal IT staff don’t have to scour the Internet in search of the right tools. Instead, our experienced consultants know multiple solutions for any challenge, help you understand the risk associated with launching the project, and ultimately ensure that you achieve the best possible outcome.
More than simply “tech support,” our team prides itself on delivering extraordinary customer service for a broad range of products and services. Engaging with CTI can help you establish a methodical project approach and reduce your risk of downtime or data loss; this in turn dramatically reduces your overall project costs and optimizes your critical IT infrastructure for long-term success.
Contact us today for more information on partnering with CTI for your next technology application launch.