5 Business Technologies That Are Totally Overrated

Featured article by Kady Harper, Marketing Administrator

When you’re in business in the 21st century, it doesn’t matter what kind of business you’re in: Technology is an inherent part of your day-to-day. Whether you’ve optimized your website for mobile or you’re taking advantage of a top-rated cloud-based CRM service, the nuts and bolts of making money have never been more sci-fi than they are today, and they’re only going to get more so.

While some use of technology is essential if you want to stay in the black, not all of it is, and some of it is downright overrated. Regardless of whether you’re a Luddite or an Early Adopter, here are five business technologies that are bigger on bluster than they are on muster.

1. Disruptive Technologies

Disruptive technologies and other innovative tech is all the rage right now as startups across the world aim to become the next must-have social media site, biotech firm, or gadget maker. However, innovative technology is hard to invent — especially at the current pace of technological change. Yes, the stories that parade through our media-saturated lives make for swoon-worthy sound bytes: It would be nice to sell a virtual reality gaming startup to Facebook for $2 billion, but for every Oculus VR out there, thousands of startups aiming to get in on the biggest tech money flounder and fail. Avoid the pressure to reinvent the wheel, and stick to what you know. So long as your ecommerce site provides your customers with a pleasant and reliable experience, you should be content to leave the invention of tomorrow to someone else.

2. Tablets

If you step back from the tablet craze for a moment, something remarkable becomes clear. People who own tablets often also own a desktop computer or a laptop and a smartphone, which adds up to three different devices that overlap in functionality in surprising ways. While tablets are a little easier to use for some applications than other devices are — they function great as Internet-connected pay stations for credit transactions at brick and mortar stores — if you don’t need one to process credit cards, your business probably doesn’t need one. So, skip the tablet. If your business’s needs can be met with computers and smartphones, don’t introduce the third device.

3. Coding

Computer coding is considered by many to be as integral to business in the 21st century as knowing English, which is the lingua franca of the business world. After all, our growing world of tech has code at its center. However, unless you want to learn code, doing so is probably going to feel like a primer in the futility of chasing your tail. Technology is changing at such a rapid pace that your time and energy would almost never be through learning, so it would probably be better spent improving the business you already have and increasing your knowledge of your industry. Leave the code to the coders, and stay on top of the real skills you need to keep leading your business into the future.

4. An IT Department

If you’re still working with a functioning IT department on-site at your business to keep your website and operations running smoothly, it’s time to upgrade to doing without. Cloud technology keeps getting more and more robust, and its security is improving all the time, too. Instead of servers on-site and a team of people keeping computers humming and updated with software, you can move all your virtual space needs, software needs, and keeping-up-with-the-times needs into the cloud. While it may be helpful to have one or two IT employees who can troubleshoot problems as they arise, maintaining an entire IT department — if you aren’t a tech business — is completely unnecessary.

5. Anything That Isn’t Green

The days of worrying solely about your bottom line have officially passed us all by. Climate change is a real threat, and our planet and species are facing tremendous challenges as a result. If you’re still using technology, practices and vendors that aren’t green, it’s time to make the shift. From massive savings in terms of cash to changing the Earth’s current dire outlook, going green should be an essential component of your business model.

Trading out all your incandescent bulbs for CFL or LED will result in energy savings that will also lower your electric bill, or you can opt for solar panels and skip the fossil fuels entirely. Choosing vendors with solid environmental practices will make for a cleaner planet and a clearer conscience. Working with partners — and being a partner — committed to sustainable practices will encourage innovation in sustainability, which is something that will benefit everyone and every business.

Don’t fall victim to technology’s never-ending siren song. While some tech can make your business more efficient and profitable, some will just take up space and result in waste.