“If you give a lumberjack who’s been using an axe his whole life a chain saw, and he starts hacking at a tree with it, it’s not going to help at all. It’s what you do with the technology that makes the difference.” That is a quote from Terhilda Garrido at Kaiser Permanente, the country’s largest not-for-profit health plan when she was asked about how electronic health records were working out. I read a lot of articles about Healthcare since that is one of my primary focuses but I think this quote really applies to every industry.

All too often we buy something because it is new, hot, cool or just looks good then we wonder why it has not brought us any value. Who doesn’t have a closet full of the latest gadgets that has not seen use since the month it was purchased? It is annoying enough at home when the purchase price may have been a few hundred dollars but what about when you buy that new technology for work? The cost there is rarely a few hundred dollars.

When a medical practice elects to upgrade or venture into electronic health records there is a large physical and time cost. Granted the government stimulus is going to offset the physical cost but there is still a time cost as you shift how you do business. When a corporate office elects to go to cloud computing or implement a new CRM software package that is also a large cost. How do you know if you will see the ROI?

The best way I have seen to realize ROI is not to leap into making purchases based on a pitch or marketing blitz. Talk to people. Engage with a Trusted Advisor who knows your industry and understands business as a whole. Work with them to look at your business and how “you” do business to see if the solution is a good fit. Have conversations with key staff that will be using it and analyze how they work. Perhaps you will need to change your business processes or even change the solution in order to make the maximum ROI but it is important to know that up-front and get staff by-in so they are 100% behind the success. More implementations fail due to staff not using the solution because they don’t believe in it or they think it is going to work against them and get rid of their job.

Change can be good as long as change is managed and has meaning. Don’t make random changes. Have a plan and then provide training and support for you and your staff. Work with someone you trust to make your technology work for you and not against you. If you need an axe, use an axe but if you need a chainsaw, learn how to use it to reap the maximize benefit in the shortest time.