When you’re building a website or choosing a new CRM start the selection process with a clear-eyed view of your business strategy. Get your strategy right then start selecting the technology that will help you get there fastest. Go the other way around and you’ll be spend too much and end up with something that you don’t need.

Business owners who aren’t clear on their business strategy tend to allow tech vendors to shape their strategy. For example, they’ll meet with someone who’s flogging CRM software and will find their strategy and business processes being shaped by the bells and whistles contained in the software. Not that there’s anything wrong with taking advantage of the efficiencies that the latest technology can deliver but there’s a very real risk of the business owner losing focus on what they want to achieve.

Rather than focussing on building revenue or asset growth the business owner can be seduced into thinking that the technology is an end in itself. It’s not!

Instead, smart operators focus on what they want then look for technology that will help them get their in the most efficient manner. In doing so they need to be aware of the starry-eyed tech enthusiasts who overstate the transformational capabilities of the latest technology platform. They also need to be aware of being overly cynical of the effects of technology on their business or industry.

As an example, many real estate agents in the nineties dismissed the significance of email and the internet to the way their businesses would operate. Had they moved earlier to build a database and a web presence they would be significantly better off today.

To recap: have a sound business strategy, keep scanning the horizon for technology that will effect your strategy and select technology that will help you achieve your goals in the most efficient manner.