Pass the Barbeque Sauce: When Upgrading Goes Too Far

Upgrading technology is a sure way to improve the efficiency, security, and productivity of your company’s operations, but is there a point when upgrading one’s tech can go too far? As much as you hear us sing the praises of upgrading, we have to admit that there’s a point when you can have too much of a good thing.

Technology is designed to help the user better perform a task. Once the task is completed, then any additional upgrades are just frivolous and may even be counterproductive to the goal of business technology, which is to maximize efficiency.

For a case study on this topic, let’s look outside of the office and venture to the backyard. Here we find one of our favorite technologies, the barbeque grill. The expressed purpose of a barbeque grill is to cook food, primarily meat. This technology in its most basic form requires a flame that can be sustained by a fuel source, such as charcoal or clean-burning propane, along with some kind of metal grill that food can be cooked upon.

When you go to the outdoor section at your local home and garden store, you’re presented with a variety of BBQ grills to choose from. The most basic setup is typically a small and portable charcoal unit that has room enough for a few patties. This grill gets the job done in the most basic way possible and the price reflects it (some assembly required).

As you walk down the aisle, you notice that the grills get pricier as more upgrades are added. Shelves are added to rest your meat upon, the grills get bigger so that more dogs can be cooked at once, and you’ll see fancy grills with built-in thermometers that takes the guesswork out of cooking.

As you continue strolling down the BBQ aisle, the grills get bigger, shinier, and pricier. The upgrades make the grilling units so large that wheels have to be added so they can be easily transported. Purchasing one of these larger grills is an investment. When it comes to buying the right grill and not overpaying, knowing what your grilling needs are is essential. If you were wanting to buy a grill for a single outing, then you would want to turn back and look at the more basic units.

If the BBQ grills at the big box store aren’t good enough for you, then you can always upgrade to something with a little more horsepower (345 to be precise).

Here are some of the specs of this grilling beast, “With the power and torque of the 5.7-liter V-8 HEMI engine, this grill can cook 240 HEMI dogs in three minutes and is covered by more than 330 square feet of steel.” As mind-blowingly-awesome as this grill is, it’s a complete and utter waste of money. If you were tasked with buying a grill for the company picnic and came back with this HEMI masterpiece, you would get a big stink eye from accounting (along with high fives from the office motor heads).

With this ridiculous example in grilling technology comes a lesson for upgrading your office technology. There’s a point when your company’s technology perfectly suits your needs and you don’t have to upgrade anything. Sure, there’s always an opportunity to find new technologies to help operations go smoother, but your workstation may have all the RAM you need and only using two monitors may be enough. If you purchase top-of-the line PCs for every employee in your office just so that you can say, “Our business uses the best technology that money can buy,” then like our HEMI BBQ friend, you’ll be paying extra for the sake of your image, not because it’s practical.

Preferred can provide your business with our free technology consultation service to make sure that you’re not overpaying for technology. We can also line your business up with technology upgrades you need in order to perform better. Like barbecuing, using the right technology is all about finding balance. Call Preferred at 708-781-7110 for recommendations on a side dish for your next BBQ, and to find the perfect solution for your business!