Info-Tech: Technology Alignment
Opstreams has several successful engagements with small to mid-size businesses on matching technology and cost to the business model and objectives. Technology only pays off if its pulling in the same direction as the business. These engagements are typically one day to three months in length, and pay back their investment many times over. Most SMEs are savvy enough to explain the latest hot phrases from the technology world, but not savvy enough to undertand their context, whether they're appropriate, or how or where to use them. In one case, a company was using a popular content-management system to manage interactive communications and in another case, a local business was using Excel spreadsheets to make and track appointments and everything else from employee lists to financials. In both cases, we were able to model the cost and labor savings from automation, refining their inefficient process, and finding the most affordable vendors and software products to meet their requirements. A win-win all around.