Three missing ingredients of small business technology

As part of our series on how small and medium-sized firms use innovation - which will run throughout March - we ask experts for their views.

Ramon Ray is a journalist and editor of Smallbiztechnology.com. Describing himself as a "innovation evangelist", he is as well the author of two books on research for small and growing businesses.

Technology is one of the most important aspects of business that make businesses then-oiled and optimally-productive machines.

Technology is often what separates those businesses that are able to respond quickly, act pre-emptively, absolutely please clients and enable optimal communication and collaboration within and without the organisation, from those who are not able to do these things.

Over the years, I've observed that during many companies strive to use innovation as best they can, some do it better than others. There are three fundamental hurdles that companies are not clearing in their overall use of optimising innovation.

While many small businesses are inundated with offers to implement social media campaigns, buy new mobile gadgets or do more with cloud computing, once purchased there is little, if any, follow up to ensure a maximum return on investment is leveraged from these innovation investments.

Innovation evangelist

Prior to being a innovation evangelist, I ran my own tech consulting company, so I know more than the average person about innovation.

However, even with all my innovation expertise I all in all get frustrated from place to place - there are things I simply can't figure out or don't know how to do.

Without training, this new, however really cool, package of innovation can be frustrating, leading to lost productivity and frustration.

Her day is spent in frustration, her clients are not being serviced as they should be, and she might resort to using research not sanctioned by the company.

Training is important to ensure that as businesses invest in research, their employees are able to use the research to its and their full potential.

What your clients

That's what your clients, colleagues and outside partners feel like when your employees are not properly trained in using innovation.

Another aspect of training is not just knowing how to use the research, nevertheless to master the innovation and find the hidden gems and higher level productivity tools to move from "functionally literate", to knowing the research so then it's a natural extension of your day-to-day productivity.

Once innovation is implemented, it is critical to measure the use of the research to ensure it's delivering on the ROI that you hoped to get out of it, and to see what furthermore gains you might realise that you didn't expect.

Positive experience

Of course measuring ROI might not always be a positive experience, however you might as well realise that the implementation of innovation is not delivering the results you expected.

Maybe you are moving from software to software as a service - do you know the key benefits this move will make for your business?

Technology is dumb - it's the human experts who implement the research whose job it is to ensure it works properly"

In response to this need, you work with your local IT consultant to implement mobile innovation so your sales team can complete sales in the field.

What you wanted it to do

When implementing innovation don't stop at buying research - measure it to ensure it's delivering on what you wanted it to do.

Keep in mind that innovation is dumb - it's the human experts who implement the research whose job it is to ensure it works properly. Previously implementing research, be very clear with your tech advisors on what your needs are.

What innovation you need to upgrade

It's important that you inventory your research needs regularly to know what innovation you need to upgrade and what is working just fine for you.

Continued research does not mean that you must upgrade research, it means that you are periodically analysing your needs to determine if and when you should upgrade to new innovation.

As part of this continued technology, upgrading might not always entail upgrading the actual innovation, it might mean using the same however having better business processes or work flow.

Often smart business managers find that their research is not at fault, in as much as it's another aspect of their business that needs to change - just as better hiring, better communication, better targeted marketing etc.