Save to Invest in new technology

Most businesses that look to take advantage of new technology, look at this as an expenditure. They know that they need to spend money to buy the hardware and software, and they have to wait until they can find the money.

At a conference, recently, I heard the term save to invest. What I realized was this was the approach that I take with software projects. Often companies buy first, hoping that they can save money later. It doesn't have to be this way.

A company looks to software to improve their business, and they should. But this doesn't have to be guesswork.

Whatever your goal is, you need to spend more time visualizing what a difference this will make to your business. This is where you will define in detail where your savings will be.
As you design your business process, you will identify many areas where your can save money or improve performance. Many of these can be done without buying new technology. You may be able to buy a small amount to gain further benefits.

This is in total conflict with the traditional approach to implementing software, which I would call the BIG BANG approach. Pay all your money up front and hope to get a return. This not only increases risks, but takes longer to produce a return.

every project should have some benefit up front, then produce incremental returns until it is finished. This will cost you less, reduce risks and keep everyone feeling involved in the process and seeing that not only the technical people are making a contribution.