A new Christmas tradition is emerging, but it’s not traditional in any sense. I’m talking about the giving and receiving of consumer electronics as Christmas gifts.
New smartphones, laptops, tablets, desktops, Xboxes, digital cameras, HDTVs, and the like have become the gift of choice for many people. These decidedly modern devices are new Christmas “toys,” for the kid in us all. A Christmas without some new technology wouldn’t seem like Christmas to a lot of people these days.
But there’s another reason, consumer electronics find their way under so many Christmas trees. Consumer devices—just like devices used in business IT—have very short lifespans. Therefore, every Christmas, there’s high demand for new devices.
It’s not because the old devices break down. The problem is that IT devices don’t operate in a vacuum—they’re dependent on other technologies. Consider a smartphone from a few years ago; it may still do everything it was built to do, but it just wasn’t designed to handle subsequent technological developments such as improved cellular networking and more-robust applications.
Ford has come out with new models every year, but a well-maintained Ford pickup from 10 years ago can still do everything a pickup needs to do. Most products are like that—new models come out, but the old models still do the job. Clothes may go out of style, but they’ll still keep you warm.
IT devices, on the other hand, are lucky to still be useful three years after you buy them.
The devices that were cutting-edge last Christmas are already on the way out as more-advanced products have been introduced this season, taking better advantage of emerging technologies. And you can be sure that those shiny new devices that get big smiles this Christmas will be scrap before too many more Christmases roll around—and it’ll be time for another device as a gift.
Making the Right Purchase
IT’s fast-changing nature can make it easy to know the perfect gift to give (or to put on your wish list!), but it’s doesn’t make it easy at all to manage a business. When a consumer device becomes outdated, it usually causes only personal irritation; but when business IT becomes outdated, it’s a problem with significant financial consequences.
Outdated technology can put a small or medium-sized business at a competitive disadvantage, result in process inefficiencies, and expose it to costly downtime, business disruptions, and security issues.
But despite the difference in seriousness, the process of selecting the right laptop for a Christmas gift isn’t the much different than the process of selecting the right business IT to invest in. Whether you’re choosing a gift for someone, or making business IT investment decisions, you have to begin by determining the need.
If you’re trying to choose the best tablet for your daughter, you’ll want to know how she uses it and what she uses it for—what her need is. Similarly, any good IT procurement decision starts with a firm understanding of the business need that the IT investment is meeting. With that understanding, you can begin to look the technologies that best meet the need.
The next step is researching the technologies. For a consumer purchase, searching the web for product reviews and talking to people who’ve used the technology usually suffices to make a buying decision. But with the high stakes of business IT, more-in-depth knowledge is necessary.
However, many small and medium-sized businesses simply aren’t able to keep up with technological developments. There are just too many of them, and they’re always changing—and each change can affect IT you own or are investing in. Even IT pros struggle to keep up with all the product updates and new technologies. That’s why it’s so important for SMBs to get the best IT support and consulting possible.
The short product lifecycle of IT isn’t likely to change anytime soon, which is good news for retailers during Christmas, but very bad news for SMBs that aren’t focused on keeping up with the pace of technological change. Like a wife who knows she can make her husband happy by buying him a new iPad every other year, it’s best to accept the fast-changing nature of IT and turn it into a positive.
Jonathan Nituch knows a lot about technology for the workplace. He is Executive Vice-President for Fortress Technology Planners that offers a range of IT services to SMEs across Canada. A Certified Business Analysis Professional and a Project Management Professional, Jonathan develops and manages large IT projects for clients. He also teaches business analysis and project management at two colleges of applied arts and technology.
Tablet present image via Shutterstock
