Have you ever fallen victim to buyer’s remorse? We all know what this is – we’ve purchased something thinking it was exactly what we wanted or thought would fix our problems, but got it home and found out it wasn’t quite what we thought, or needed a lot more parts that didn’t come with it.
This can often happen with technology purchases at an organizational level. We go on the hunt, for example, for a new wireless network because our current one isn’t working right. We buy it and install it, thinking we have the solution, but find out we need licenses or it’s going take more work to set up than we expected, or doesn’t connect to other systems we thought it would. As it turns out, we’ve traded one set of problems for another.
When purchasing technology, the nature of the beast can make it difficult to make the best decisions on what to buy. While most things are designed to be “compatible” with each other, the reality is a lot of factors can go into compatibility. Without proper planning, IT manufacturers can end up pointing fingers at each other when there’s a problem, each claiming their system or product is the victim of a subpar system their product is connected to.
In today’s world, when it comes to IT, reducing the number of different platforms and manufacturers can improve your odds of success. Most major networking manufacturers now offer both wired and wireless equipment, buying into Microsoft, Apple or Google’s ecosystems rather than piecemealing the three can simplify things for everyone, and finding a single database solution that has all of your components integrated can improve data flow.
With this method of compatibility, you may sometimes miss out on the “best of breed” products in each area. The reality is though you may not need the features offered with that product, and can save substantial amounts of time, money and stress by not trying to fit your systems around this high-end product.
If you’re in the market for any kind of upgrade, whether it be IT infrastructure, computers or other devices, internet and voice, database platforms, or others, LeadershipOne Technologies can help you evaluate compatibility before you buy. We can make sure that your desired upgrade meets your needs and doesn’t cost you more money down the road.
Contact us today and let’s have a conversation about keeping your systems interacting smoothly!
