Can technology save your business? The answer is a resounding YES and NO. Confused? It's really quite simple. Many companies whether a Retail Store, Restaurant, Manufacturer, Distributor or any Service Company goes out shopping for a 'solution' to their woes and comes back home with the perfect product that will take care of everything. But lo and behold, not much changes. Why? Because they purchased a product on the assumption that simply by installing it everything would get better.
How do you learn? By osmosis? Great! Just put your hands on the new piece of hardware or software and you will know everything about it. All those little secrets that are in the Help manual, tricks and tips will just jump into your brain. I've tried it and it just doesn't work.
Having been in the technology business, retail sales, restaurant management and business accounting fields over my carreer span, I have discovered that the only real way to learn the technology is through digging, reading and hands on use. Printed manuals are a thing of the past. Everything is in pdf format or similiar. But I believe that this is actually more useful in many cases. I can open the program, open the help files and see exactly what I need to do while using the program.
However in some cases I have needed real training. This is where the company that sold the software or hardware comes into the picture. Today many companies offer real-time training over the internet that can speed up the learning curve significantly. In many cases it is included in a Support contract or available at a slight additional charge.
My point here? Is take the time to Learn the software and hardware. Spend the time neccessary to get the most out of your investment. Contact your vendor and find out exactly what they offer for training and invest in it. You have already paid for the product, why not learn how to use it from the experts? Nothing can help your business if you don't use it.
