At Red Wing Software, we continuously investigate new technology that will help us better manage our business. We employ a process to choose the technology and the company or companies to work with when we collect and analyze data.

When deciding what new technologies to use in our operation, and the companies we choose to work with, we first determine what information we need, and how we will use the data. We quite often take baby steps when adopting new systems. We know it’s ok to start slowly. Here’s what I recommend to people that start to use our financial software: Keep track of the same level of information that you kept track of before you moved to our more robust system. A technology change is hard enough without introducing a whole new level of detail to your work load. Then, as you get comfortable with the new system, add more detail to help drill down and get better analysis at a lower level.

After we determine what we need, it’s time to start to look at the companies that offer those solutions. There are a lot of good companies that offer some amazing products and functionality that we need to sift through. Once we narrow down the list of products that can handle our requirements, we consider the people we’ll be working with. These people are going to become trusted advisors to our operation. In some cases, it’s important that the new technology we implement plays well with the other technology that we already use. This may mean that the systems have to share data bidirectionally, or at least be able to import or export data in a format that is compatible.

So, when you start to implement new technologies in your operation, decide what you need and how you will use the data, find the companies and people that are a good fit for your operation, and move forward. Every day you wait, you lose valuable data that can never be recreated.

With the holidays in full swing, now is a good time to remember all the important people in our lives. On behalf of Red Wing Software, I want to wish a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and prosperous New Year to our families, customers, co-workers, partners, vendors, and all the people that help keep us happy, safe, and free.