Bit 'n Java

Information technology has always been a race to see who can claim the bragging rights to who has the newest technologies. In the race to have great marketing, it is also important to know how the tools that to best utilize those tools.  If the tools developed for us are used properly they can greatly help our advancement.

New developments in software are constantly coming out and marketed to us. Everything that comes out is almost forced upon us not for what it can do for us, but just as a money maker. Yes…we all need to make money from our products, but those products also should be more useful to us than the previous versions. Most of the time, the new features that are developed are geared more for large enterprises than the small businesses which certainly outnumber the large corporations. Very few of the advancements in software technology help the little guy do his work more efficiently. New features that help the small business come along every few years rather than every year like most software packages.

For example, software productivity suites such as Microsoft Office come out almost every year to every other year. However, putting the cost of upgrading aside for the moment, when was the last time that a new feature was introduced that enabled a great new feature for the masses? It’s been a while. Most of the recent versions have features that support expensive network infrastructures rather than helping someone create a better document that is viewable by everyone without needing yet other piece of software.

In order to keep up, we are forced to have to have the newest and we all then can claim we have the newest. But…Does the newest thing on the market actually make your business better? In my experience, it’s not the amount of solutions you have or the amount of money that has been spent; rather, it is the way in which those tools have helped to increase your productivtiy and get the job done faster. In most cases, the same thing we had a few years ago will get the same job done in the same amount of time. All that changes, for the most part, is the user interface.

As the old addage goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Well, for the most part it is correct. But, if what you have is doing the job for you and helping you to increase your bottom line, why upgrade to a new version just because it’s there. One thing I always do when a new package is announced is to look at what it has to offer me before I hand over the money. If it offers a ground breaking development over what I have, I’ll go for it. But, if it’s really insignificant, I’ll wait till the next version and repeat the process next time meanwhile increasing my ROI on my last investment.

In an age where more and more is done via the Internet, our tools need to be able to reflect this major change in the way we work. If developments don’t move in that direction, then there is no need to change our tools. The same tools from the past will continue to do the job. It’s not what you have, but rather how you use them to your advantage that makes the tools useful tools and investments.