5 signs tech issues will ruin your Summer (and what to do about them)

The only thing you should be taking to the beach is a towel. But we all know how it goes...

You finally get away, and between putting on the out-of-office and getting to the beach, you’re still thinking about that ageing system, the spreadsheet holding everything together, that vendor problem, or what happens if something breaks while the one person who understands it is away.

If you’re already wondering about it now, it’s probably worth sorting before summer.

Here are five tech issues you probably don’t want following you on holiday, and what you can do about them, now.

1. Cross your fingers for the system you're hoping keeps working

It works. Mostly... But changes are getting harder to manage. There are integrations nobody really wants to touch and the workarounds have multiplied. You’re increasingly reliant on a few people who know how it all hangs together.

Nothing has actually failed. But you’re not completely comfortable either.

Summer tends to make that feeling a little harder to ignore. Fewer people are around plus vendors on leave. The people who know what to do when something breaks may be nowhere near a laptop.

What to do about ageing technology and legacy systems

You don’t have to replace an ageing system just because it’s ageing. But you should understand what you’re relying on. Where are the risks and dependencies? What's the plan if something fails? And is the right answer for you to begin planning for replacement?

Don’t wait for an old system to fail before deciding what comes next.

2. There’s one person who can't actually go on holiday

You probably know who they are. Maybe it’s you?

This key person know why the system works the way it does. They understand the integrations. They know the weird workarounds. They know who to call at the vendor.

If something goes wrong, everyone knows whose phone is ringing. That’s not just inconvenient over summer. It’s a dependency.

What to do about key-person dependency and business continuity

Work out where the knowledge actually sits. Who understands your critical systems, integrations and processes? Who knows what to do when something breaks? And where are you relying too heavily on one employee or one technology vendor?

Document the important stuff, make ownership clear and put a business continuity plan around the systems and processes your business can’t afford to lose. Your people should be able to take a holiday without becoming a business continuity risk.

3. Everything slows down when summer leave starts

A spreadsheet here. A SharePoint list there. Emails for approvals. SOPs for copying information from one system into another. It all works reasonably well when everyone is around.

Then summer arrives.

The person who normally approves something is away. The person who updates the spreadsheet is away. The person who knows what happens next is away. Suddenly, something that normally takes an afternoon takes a week. Not because the technology stopped working but because the people holding the process together aren't there.

What to do about manual processes, workarounds and automation

Look at what happens when people aren't there to keep things moving. Where are approvals sitting in inboxes? Where is information manually rekeyed? Where do spreadsheets bridge the gaps between systems? And what simply stops when someone goes on leave?

Then look at where processes could be simplified, systems integrated or repetitive work automated. Your people should be able to take a summer break without your business taking one too.

4. The business has grown, but your technology hasn't

Maybe this year has been a good one. More customers. More transactions. More people. More data. More reporting. And now there are growing expectations around automation and AI. The problem is, underneath all that growth might be systems and processes designed for an older and slower version of the business.

You start seeing the symptoms everywhere. Reporting gets harder. Data is spread across different places. Teams create their own processes. New applications get added to solve individual problems. And everything gets a little more complicated. Your business has moved on. Has your technology kept up?

What to do when your business has outgrown its systems

Before buying another system, step back and look at what the business actually needs.

How should your future processes work? What data do people need? Where should systems integrate? What should be automated? And where do you need consistency across the business versus flexibility for different teams or business units?

Use that picture to create a technology roadmap for what comes next. Don’t keep asking yesterday’s systems to solve tomorrow’s problems.

5. You keep saying, “we really need to sort that”

You know there are things that need attention. Maybe it’s a security vulnerability that keeps coming up. An audit finding that still needs closing. A vendor relationship you’re not completely comfortable with. An ageing system. Or a technology decision that keeps getting pushed into next year.

None of them have quite become urgent enough to force the issue. So they sit there.

And every so often someone says, “we really need to sort that.” The problem isn't necessarily that you haven't fixed it yet, it's that you don't have a plan for what happens next.

What to do about unresolved technology risks and issues

You don’t need to fix everything before summer. But you should know what you’re going to do about it. Bring the issues together and work out what genuinely needs attention now, what can wait, what needs more investigation and what could become a bigger problem if you keep putting it off. Then put a plan around it.

What are you going to do? Who owns it? What needs to happen first? What decisions need to be made? And what are you deliberately leaving until later? That might mean fixing a cybersecurity vulnerability, closing an audit finding, addressing a vendor issue or finally deciding what to do about an ageing system. You might not have everything sorted before summer. But at least you'll know what happens next.

Don't take it to the beach

So, how many signs did you recognise? Hopefully none. Realistically, most businesses have one or two.

You don't need to solve every technology problem before summer. But there's a big difference between having something sitting in the back of your mind and knowing what you're going to do about it. And that's really the point.

If you're still thinking about it when you're sitting on the beach, you probably didn't leave it at the office. The only thing you should be taking to the beach is a towel.

Sort the tech.Turn on the out-of-office and enjoy your holiday :)