Is It Time for a Technology Audit?

Baldinger Lighting is a 116-year-old New York City company specializing in the production of standard fixtures designed by prominent architects and large custom chandeliers for public spaces. Baldinger's custom-made chandeliers can be seen in buildings all over the world.

But what no one saw, except for employees, was the daily technology struggles the company faced, which resulted in lost productivity. Howard Baldinger, the owner, hired a local IT consulting company, Greenhouse IT, to undertake a technology audit. What Greenhouse found were a lot of problems.

Thanks to the audit, Howard was able to get a clear view of what technology was not working properly, the inefficiencies that it was causing and the solutions he could implement. But what about your business? When was the last time you conducted a technology audit? Are there problems you're having that you don't even know about?

One of the most important things you can do is to audit your businesses technology needs on an annual basis, if not more frequently.

Your audit needs to take into account two critical questions:

1. What kind of growth do you expect in the next 6-to-18 months? Can your current technology support that growth?
2. What are the specific 'pain points' your employees or customers are complaining about most and how can technology assist you in meeting those challenges?

A key portion of your audit involves inventorying all of your technology (don't forget the mobile devices). You need to ascertain the age, specifications and performance of each device and software application.

One of the specific pain points that employees at Baldinger Lighting experienced was slow computers. 'The employees who had very slow computers thought that that was how the computers were supposed to be,' Baldinger relates. Following the technology audit and the resulting purchase of new computers, productivity quickly rose.

A technology audit, just like a doctor's check-up, helps you know what is right and what is wrong with the technology in your business. According to 'Do-It-Yourself Auditing,' a Biztech magazine article, there are several key areas to consider in an audit:

1. Systems and device inventory (type and number), including software, hardware and patches
2. Return on investment on projects run by IT
3. Help-desk calls, duration and case closure rates
4. Automation levels for system maintenance (i.e., the operations that run the IT applications)
5. In-house development and its total cost of ownership compared to projects of existing off-the-shelf prepackaged solutions
6. Productivity levels of consultants versus employees in the IT department
7. Budget of IT costs versus actual expenditures
8. Number of different platforms and databases, and if and how they are able to communicate with each other
9. Networked systems inventory and open ports
10. Data backup procedures and system logs
11. Deciding what to upgrade or what to buy new can be a challenging decision. When considering your choices, evaluate not only the direct-dollar investment, but also ensure that the solution (upgrade or new) provides an acceptable return on investment.

For example, you may have several slow computers and decide to pay $200 to upgrade the memory instead of spending $1,400 on new computers. However, if there are other problems with the computers or the computers are unable to use new software you buy, upgrading the memory only could cost you much more than $700 in the long term.

'Be careful about haphazardly upgrading,' advises Chris Zawacki, president of Greenhouse IT. 'For example, don't upgrade your machine to Windows 7 just because it's the latest and greatest, only to find that your CRM package isn't compatible. Work to learn what any new hardware or software package does and whether it's compatible with your current systems and needs.'

You regularly service your car, attend to your own health and even your update home. The technology used in your business also needs to be checked out and audited on a regular basis.

To learn more about technology audits, check out 'Do-It-Yourself Auditing' in Biztech magazine, and 'Making the Upgrade: When to Switch Hardware' in Inc. Technology magazine.

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