I have a question for you – Is technology over used? Now, being in the IT services industry I would love to say “No!” However, technology is not always the answer and actually rarely is by itself. Technology is a way to enhance a process, a way to reach customers in a new and different way, it is a method to gain efficiencies and drive bottom line results.

Recently I personally witnessed an example of over using technology. I was on vacation in Myrtle Beach South Carolina. It was a great South Carolina morning. The sun was coming up and it was a brisk morning on the way to a nice 80 degree day. Perfect for spending time on the beach with my family and friends! Several of my friends and I were up early and heading to a local golf course called Whispering Pines. Being somewhat adventuresome, I had found out where the golf course was earlier in the week while driving around with my two sons looking for a baseball field to practice on. The four of us loaded up the clubs into the beautiful new 2009 Buick Enclave.

The Enclave was a beautiful cross-over vehicle with all the latest bells and whistles – including built in GPS. I settled in the Enclave for what I knew was a quick ride – 10 minutes at the most – to Whispering Pines golf course. That’s when “it” happened…..the overuse of technology. Our driver Mike, conveniently loaded the address to the golf course in the GPS. The pleasant sounding voice on the GPS system quickly directed us and we were on our way. Immediately out of the parking garage, I knew I was in trouble…..

The pleasant GPS voice directed us in what I believed to be the wrong direction. I mentioned to Mike that we should be making a left turn and not a right at the corner. Mike reassured me that the GPS was in control and that I should sit back and enjoy the ride. ………..15 minutes and 4 U-turns later we were still following that pleasant (“siren” of a voice) GPS device. At first, I was quite annoyed at being disregarded for this “siren GPS.” But after the first 2 u-turns, I thought this experience could be kind of fun So I decided to sit back, smile and watch Mike follow the “siren.” As we took wrong turn after wrong turn a consistent phrase kept popping into my mind – we could not see the “forest through the trees.” All thinking, logic and reasoning skills were thrown out of the window. The “siren GPS” had to be right. Damn the maps, compasses and basic intuition….we didn’t need that stuff…..after all we were following the GPS system. It was another 10 minutes before the driver finally gave up and dismissed the GPS, decided to listen to his team and ultimately find Whispering Pines Golf Course. As this personal example reminded me, technology is rarely the answer. Technology is just a piece to the equation and a tool to be used combined with logic and reasoning skills to help move “the trip” forward. Like we experienced on that great South Carolina morning, the over use of technology can make anyone take wrong turns. Including your business…

Technology is not a substitute for business plans, intuition and solid decision making. Technology is designed to support those elements and help enable the business leader’s intuition, skill and dexterity to make more informed decisions and track ‘things.’ If you are tired of people pushing technology for technology sake, contact us at Pearl Technology.

Our goal at Pearl Technology is to Innovate for our clients to Impact their business with Integrity. Technology should simplify your business and/or create additional business velocity. Increasing the velocity of your business allows you to do more, be more efficient and scale in support of your customers. Now that’s what matters: technology, simplified.

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