Are You At The Mercy Of Computer Geeks?
by Melanie Mendelson (c) 2004
Many business owners are sabotaging their business without
even realizing it. They are completely out of the loop
when it comes to all technology aspects of their operation
such as websites, computers and software. They become
completely dependent on their technical people and naively
believe that things are "being taken care of".
This "head in the sand" approach is very dangerous. Here
are just a few scenarios of what can happen:
* Your webmaster is the only person who knows the username,
password and other improtant settings for your website. If
the webmaster suddenly stops responding to your phone calls
or e-mails (which I've seen happen many times), you would
have no idea how to hand off the website updates to another
person.
* Your programmer no longer wishes to work with you. When
you hire a replacement, it turns out that there is no
documentation for the program, the code is unreadable, and
it will be cheaper for you to buy a new program than salvage
this "sinking ship".
* The software that was developed for your business
theoretically does all that was required, but there is one
big
problem: it is sitting idle because it is so confusing that
nobody wants to use it.
* The web server crashes and your website files get erased.
Then it turns out that nobody has a backup copy
* Your technical person realized how dependent you've
become, and starts acting like a "primadonna", and even
blackmails you into shelling out more cash, "or else"!
So how do you protect yourself?
If you are now thinking that you need to become a computer
geek yourself so you don't have to depend on anyone else -
that could not be further from the truth. If you spend all
your time digging through computer books, writing code and
working on the technical details, there will be no time for
you to run your business.
Doing it all yourself is not the answer. Everyone should
concentrate on doing what they do best. What you need to do
is just take some measures to protect yourself. Just
knowing and applying these few basic things that I'm about
to describe will put you a giant leap ahead of most other
business owners.
Here are the things you should do:
* Require documentation on all technical projects. Every
technology aspect of your business should be documented in
such a way that you can hand off this document to a new
technical person and they'll understand exactly how the
system works and what to do with it.
Let me warn you: you will encounter a lot of resistance from
the technical people when you make them document things.
However, you need to be firm and require documentation as
part of the project before you release the final payment.
* When asking someone to develop a website or software,
communicate exactly what you want and how you want it to
work. Don't assume that people can read your mind.
Communicate all your requirements upfront. If you don't
tell programmers or designers exactly what you want, they'll
put together a project according to their own vision, which
often does not correspond to yours.
Most problems with technical projects occur because of
miscommunication.
* Make sure you have copies of all files and do regular
backups. Don't put it off until tomorrow, because
tomorrow might be too late. Losing data can be absolutely
devastating.
The easiest thing to do to protect your data is to write
those files to a CD on a regular basis. Also, don't forget
to store those CDs in a secure location.
* Keep track of all technical projects and know what's going
on. Being "clueless" should not be acceptable.
Many business owners have such fear of technology that
they just don't want to understand the projects and hope
that others will simply take care of everything. While you
don't need to get involved in all the little technical
details, you still need to understand the process and "the
big picture".
Practice these simple strategies, and you'll find yourself
having more control, more piece of mind and more money in
your bank account.
--------------------------------------------------------
Melanie Mendelson is the author of "Profitable Outsourcing"
guide: how to get the highest quality technical work done
at dirt-cheap prices. For more info, visit her site at
http://www.ProfitableOutsourcing.com
--------------------------------------------------------