It's the MD's Money!
Let's face it, in a corporate environment you're divorced from the real money. Everything happens with POs and Invoices and Budgets. In an SME environment, the money is far closer to the surface and the MD will believe that every penny belongs to them. It's therefore not surprising that it's harder to get money spent on things that the MD struggles to value, i.e. technology.
Within an SME, demonstrating the value of the investment is not just a game, you really do need to demonstrate why the investment is needed and what the return will be and that usually needs to be a tangible return. That's partly where the problem lies because: IT Suppliers don't see this to be their role or they make up the most terrible lies to get the sale, the IT rep from the SME doesn't usually have the skills to do this and MD doesn't have the time nor inclination to do it themselves. So, they go on instinct - does it feel too much/too little too sophisticated/not sophisticated, etc. Clearly not the way to invest either, but they do it in other parts of their business quite well, but then that's because they "know" those other parts of the business.
So, what should they do? Well, one solution is the part-time or Fractional IT Director from a corporate back-ground that takes ownership of all this shenanigans and provides the MD with independent, impartial advice and guidance at a board level providing MDs with someone who can be relied upon to ensure their business technology is fit for purpose and enabling growth. That's what my company has done for the past few years and it's working well.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
