In today's fast-paced and technology-driven world, businesses of all sizes and industries need to...
In today's fast-paced business world, technology is critical for staying competitive and achieving growth. However, as technology evolves at an unprecedented rate, companies that fail to keep up, risk falling behind. How do you know your business tech stack is up to date?
If your business is struggling to adapt to changing market demands, experiencing slow performance or unauthorised access in your systems it's probably time for you to upgrade and start looking into new technology. In this article, I will explore 10 signs that your business needs to update its technology infrastructure to ensure optimal performance, cost savings and growth.
Here are 10 signs that show you need to modernise your tech stack:
1. Outdated technology
One example of outdated technology is legacy systems (which basically are outdated software and hardware systems) that are still in use because of cost restrictions or because they are very difficult to replace. What's important to be aware of here is that these systems are often not compatible with new technology or require specialised knowledge to maintain.
Outdated technology can also be about inefficient hardware which is slow to use, prone to breakdown and often not compatible with newer technology either.
But does this really affect your business operations? Oh yes, it does. In many ways actually. One of them is decreased productivity because outdated technology slows many processes down.
2. Inflexibility
There are many ways to see if your systems are inflexible or not, here are four of the most obvious ones:
- Lack of integration capabilities
- Difficult to customise
- Limited functionality
- Inability to scale
Let's have a concrete example, where we say a company has been using an old and inflexible legacy system to manage their sales and customer data for many years. Over time, their needs and processes have evolved which require more advanced features and customization options to stay competitive in their markets.
Here is where it gets difficult. Due to the inflexibility of its legacy systems, the business is unable to make the necessary changes and updates to meet these new requirements. And the result of this is that the sales team may struggle to provide top-notch customer services leading to decreased customer satisfaction and ultimately, lost sales. You get the point.
3. Integration issues
Older systems are very difficult, sometimes even impossible, to integrate with newer technology. A result of this is that employees have to put a lot of time and effort to move information between systems manually, instead of letting an integration do it through automation.
Let's say your business has a CRM system with all the information you need about your contacts, but the marketing team is using a different platform for their activities. For marketing to be able to see what sales do with the contacts in the CRM, those systems should be integrated.
4. Slow performance
This part probably does not need a longer explanation but slow performance in the tech stack can have a huge impact on your business. A sign of this can include things such as long load times, frequent crashes, unresponsive or laggy software, slow data processing or transfer times, and other similar issues.
In the end, this can result in decreased productivity and frustration for employees and customers alike, as well as potentially impacting the overall efficiency and profitability of a business.
5. Security concerns
As technology advances, so do the techniques hackers use to break into systems and steal data from your business. Older systems often lack the necessary security features and updates to protect against these threats, leaving your business vulnerable to cyberattacks.
One sign of this could be that you often experience data breaches or notice unauthorised access to your systems. Another sign can be if the manufacturer of the system no longer supports the system and therefore you don't get the necessary security updates or patches needed to stay safe.
6. Lack of scalability
At the same pace your business is growing, your technical architecture needs to be able to keep up with the increasing demands in today's market. If a system seems to be struggling to handle an increasing workload that could be a sign that you need to update it for improved scalability.
Another clear sign that it's time for an update is if it's difficult to add new users to your system when a new employee is starting and it takes several hours, or even days, to get that person up and running in your systems. Not to mention if the performance of the system is decreasing because of adding a new user.
7. Difficulty in maintenance and support
As mentioned earlier in this article, older systems often require special knowledge and a certain expertise to manage them. If a vendor stops supporting these systems it will be very difficult for you to find someone who can help you update or optimise the system when needed. There is also a risk for older systems to have longer downtimes and a higher risk for errors.
So how do you know if your system needs an update when it comes to maintenance and support? One thing is if it has outdated documentation or is missing altogether, then it can become very difficult for new employees to understand and learn the system.
8. Outdated user interfaces
An outdated user interface can be both frustrating and difficult to use which results in a poor user experience. In the end, this can lead to lower productivity and efficiency in the team, something managers want to avoid.
Low user adoption, issues to be compatible with other systems, inability to keep up with industry trends and lack of security are all common signs that it's time to modernise your system and provide your team with modern user interfaces.
9. Inability to meet customer demands
Customers have completely different demands today compared to a few years back. Mainly, the demand is so much higher and the customers' options are often very many. If your business is not able to meet these demands, the customer will find a competitor who can.
One common sign that it's time for an update is if you are receiving complaints from your customers regarding the functionality or usability of your product. In the same way, it can be frustrating for employees to be efficient when working with an old user interface, and it's frustrating for the customers.
Another very important sign to be aware of is if you are experiencing poor customer satisfaction. One product alone can absolutely have a huge impact on how satisfied the customers are and unhappy customers are really something that affects your business in a negative way.
10. High operational costs
Older systems tend to require higher operational costs compared to newer, more modern ones. The costs we talk about here are mainly these; maintenance, security, development, downtime, customer support and lost revenue.
A few signs that it can be time to upgrade your systems are high energy bills since these older systems tend to not be as energy efficient as newer ones. Other signs include experiencing high inventory costs, less productivity, high labour costs and excessive downtime.
What do you say, is it time to have a talk about your tech stack?
In this technology-driven world, we are in today, it's very important for businesses to keep up with others to stay competitive. Not to mention the cost and time-savings you can enjoy with newer, more modern systems.
Do you experience any of these signs with your existing tech stack today? At Avidly, our experts are here to help you. They work daily with helping our customers modernise and upgrade their technical infrastructure to be more productive, and efficient, lower their technology costs and stay more competitive.
