Dear Dan: It’s tough trying to keep up with technology; with my limited time, should I be spending so much trying to figure this out? – Buried in Tech
Dear Buried: When it comes to starting and growing a business, it pays to be a geek. Tech savvy entrepreneurs grow their companies faster. Knowing how to leverage today’s best business technology is clearly an advantage.
A new survey of business owners who beat the odds and successfully built small companies into mid-sized firms showed the vast majority were closely involved in making decisions about the technology the company uses.
When the business owners were asked to describe how tech savvy they were, 22 percent called themselves “total geeks.” And another 59 percent consider themselves “power users” while 74 percent said they were “totally involved in IT decisions.”
And these are not just tech biz owners. They come from automotive, construction, education, financial services, health care, law, manufacturing, nonprofit, retail, real estate and others.
The Business Rearview Mirror Study, conducted by CDW, a seller of multi-brand tech products and services, asked the successful business builders to list their most important lessons learned. The single most common answer was to pay attention to employee recruiting and retention; the second was to understand as much as you can about technology.
Most successful entrepreneurs take the time to learn what is available, what technology the company is using in all areas, and how new or different systems might help the business grow. But avoid getting too bogged down in day-to-day tech operations. Delegate the hands-on work to tech pros as soon as you can.
Survey results show a close relationship between growth and the business owner’s personal knowledge of tech. About 75 percent of the “total geeks” reported double-digit average annual growth over the past five years. And half of “total geeks” reached 100 employees within five years of launch, compared with just 24 percent overall.
Six applications where successful business owners say IT has had the greatest bottom line impact are production and project management; supply chain management; sales and business development; human resources; marketing, and accounting and finance.
These resources can help you keep up with the latest small business tech:
• Small Business Computing, www.smallbusinesscomputing.com.
• CDW has a handy online small business tech assessment tool; www.cdwconduit.com.
• SearchSMB.com is great for IT pros; go to www.smallbiztechnology.com.
Daniel Kehrer can be reached at editor@business.com.
