everyone has an agenda. Understanding this fact is a necessary part of being advised on various business decisions. When it comes to technology, it’s usually common to hear opinions from others who have product, installation, and maintenance experience. That said, be aware of potential biases that each party may have. This is an important part of this process. Technology vendors, consultants, in-house staff, and even third-party research institutes can produce the relevant information essential to making good technology decisions. But the challenge is to decide what should be taken as fact and what should be taken with a grain of salt. Look at each of the relevant decision-making groups to help define what information should be relied upon when making complex technical decisions for your organization.
technology vendor
People looking to sell technology are often seen as the most untrustworthy. After all, that is their sole responsibility. However, when it comes to specific knowledge about products and services, there is no more authoritative source. In my experience, talking to your sales representative, her engineers and product specialists is the best way to understand what your solution can and cannot do. A sales engineer may claim that feature or deployment specific options are currently possible, but a product specialist can confirm that the product/service can actually do what you want.
technical consultant
As with technology vendors, outside consultants’ opinions comparing one product to another should be treated with skepticism. That said, consultants provide a wealth of implementation and integration experience from which decisions can be made. Additionally, when consulting firms are busy integrating technology, understand that they should be the most trusted as to what they can achieve and what they cannot deliver despite vendor claims.
In-house administrators and architects
While it’s great to always rely on the input of in-house IT administrators and architects, inexperience and bias towards the handful of technologies they are accustomed to often cloud this group’s judgment. Their opinions are often less reliable than feedback from technology vendors and consultants who know what’s out there and what other companies are buying.
That said, in-house staff will provide the best feedback when determining the level of effort required to manage and scale a given technology over the long term. These people have the most accurate predictions of how new products can and should be integrated, the time required to manage and tune the product, and the approximate annual cost of operating the technology. Offers. 3 to 5 year life cycle course.
Researchers and Analysts
Many IT shops often use technical research and analyst reports to make purchasing decisions. Reports are considered “unbiased” verification from a third party not involved in the purchasing process. While this idea may be correct to some extent, be aware that the criteria these researchers use to rank products may not suit your needs from a business perspective. , if you truly value input from external researchers and analysts, partner with a research organization that can help evaluate different products/services and provide comparative reports tailored to your specific business needs and goals. is recommended.
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