Have you ever felt so overwhelmed by technology that you stay up at night thinking, “What did I miss today?” With endless tweets, chats, hangouts, emails, Facebook posts, blog updates, RSS feeds, new cloud technologies and new subscription software services, you can’t possibly read, respond to or take it all in.
A few years ago, I was contracted to get an international company up and running on an audio and video communication system to bridge the gap between multiple office locations. Email and chats were not always comprehensible, due to the fact that you couldn’t decipher the sender’s real emotion, tone or, even sometimes, their meaning. Language barriers also played a large part in the communication breakdown.
We successfully installed Microsoft’s Lync product and began training staff on how to use this new technology. It was going pretty well, but we needed a catalyst to really convert staff to the new way of communicating.
When the owner of the company suggested – and then demanded – that we get rid of email, I thought to myself, this is crazy! Nobody survives without email. How will we get anything done? But it wasn’t really my place to question it, so I did what was asked.
I’ve been around technology long enough to have forgotten how it was before we had devices attached to everything we own. This exercise of stopping all email within an international company was actually an enjoyable blast to the past. It reminded me that people could still find ways to communicate without it.
The Lync technology became valuable as people started using video conferences and live chats to get things done. Small group meetings were held over the Lync Video and Audio services to bring people together on projects. The time it took to accomplish tasks was cut in half, since all communication was done in real time. Long gone were the days that I needed to get out of my seat and walk to someone’s desk to accomplish a task.
Since email was a critical piece of scheduling, the email system came back in a lesser-used format, but the point is this: there was a better way of using the technology that we already had.
My challenge to all of you is to evaluate what you use and pinpoint what works best; capitalize on what you really want to accomplish. Get rid of the rest! Just because Snapchat seems to be the latest and greatest, doesn’t mean it has a place in your life or your business. Besides, today’s Snapchat is tomorrow’s Blendr or Moco Chat, and if we are just trying to keep up for the sake of keeping up, we will drown.
Here are four steps to managing technology overload:
Step 1: Determine and define your main purpose. If you don’t really know what your business purpose is, then you might as well start looking for another position with someone who does. Define your business purpose with technology in mind. Know what you’re not, as well as what you are. Likewise, know what you do not do, as well as what you do well.
Step 2: Evaluate technologies that could help promote your business. With so much technology available, it’s easy to get lost in evaluating different methods. Remember to stay focused on your purpose. This will help you filter through what works and what doesn’t. For example, Pinterest may only work for you if you’re trying to appeal to a creative home-based crowd. Each technology has its strong points and the audience for each can be quite different. And remember to step outside of the social media box. As you hear of new technologies, don’t get caught up in the hype, go back to your purpose and ask yourself if the latest trend is going to help you get there. If so, can it replace something you’re currently using?
Step 3: Focus on the top technologies, learn them and use them to their fullest potential. In 1746, Philip Stanhope wrote in a letter to his son, “Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.” Remember that if you are spreading yourself across too many technologies and only getting minimal returns on your time and financial investment, you could focus on the top three to five that work best for you. This will give you more energy and can increase your return tremendously. Once you have focused on the most important technologies to reach your purpose, don’t casually use them; dive into them head first!
Step 4: Re-evaluate and change direction if needed. You know that technology doesn’t stand still, and neither should your solution set. Always re-evaluate your business, your market and your core purpose so that you can be ready to react to new technologies. You’ll find that this is a far more efficient way of helping you reach your goals.
Technology is wonderful, but so is life without it. Find your balance between the two, and let everything else fall into place.
