#1 reason why leaders struggle with business decisions

When growing your business, your most precious resource isn't money, it's time. You can't buy yourself more time, which is why you have to make every decision with timing in mind..read more

When assessing any business improvement decision, you have to figure out whether your action plan needs to be put into effect now or whether it can wait. Some companies operate permanently in crisis mode, treating everything as urgent; others apply a more strategic approach and rely on an intuitive sense for timing entry into new markets, for instance, or initiating new product development...read more

Based on recent study, the #1 reason why business leaders struggle with decisions around technology is “Priorities aren’t clear”.

Here’s top 3 symptoms for not having priorities align when struggling with decisions

Waiting for future events or project to make decision: Both business and the technology world become over-complex than ever, making decisions right is also complex, and delaying critical decision(s) because of some future project is natural decision. However, most successful business leaders understand that by adding more time to IT operations, it doesn’t eliminate or reduce soft cost, but it will increase both business risks and soft cost...read more on soft cost

Here’s few items to consider:

• In IT Department, an opportunity cost is always many times higher than status quote. How would your decision lower or increase technology impact on business?
• Business impact or soft cost in payroll/profit margin will only increase by adding more time to delay decision. How will decision control this cost?

Too busy – not enough time to take on business improvements: A common reason leaders take time to deliberate is to collect more data. In some cases, urgent or rushed decisions result when managers rely on opinion or gut instinct. However, in contrast, too much irrelevant information is also cause of delay in decision process. Seeing reliability and meaningful data gives you more confidence and clarity or your decision process..read more on impact

During the busy time in business operations, any interruption in Technology (IT) and business process have much higher impact in cost. An hour interruption during normal business operations will have less impact but consider same hour when so many dependencies on technology and people have to complete their work.

Business and technology process improvements supposed to automate many areas of your business and save time to increase productivity. If you are too busy to improve your business productivity now, consider how difficult it would be after further business growth...read more on strategy

Delegating decisions to CFO / In House IT to make decision:  It’s no secret that running a business is stressful. In fact, for the average business leaders, there are so many stressors and decision points throughout the day. As business and technology is becoming more complex, it’s natural approach to avoid complex decisions and delegate this responsibility to Finance and IT Department.

Consider this: Avoiding decision based on budget and expenses as they say, whether you made a decision or not – you made a decision based on expenses not considering revenue & business risks.

“A goal without a plan is just a wish! Decision Timing or Proactive Decision Development is such a process and system that transforms the intention of proactive decision making into reality. Felix Schürholz, author of Decision”

So, when is best time for IT Process improvement? Consider following:

• Are you getting best return from your overall payroll investment?
• Have you reduced or eliminated soft cost including business risks to about 95%-97%?
• Are you getting expected profit margins?

If answer is no to any of the above question or you are not sure, Now would be time to consider “IT Process improvements”  read more on low performance IT

Need more information on Decision Process ? Take action

Discuss with our team – contact our team

Also review – Impact on Revenue blog

Understanding cost – access cost calculator