Don't use your business as a guinea pig
Most new technologies are launched before they are truly ready for prime time. This is not because their creators are careless, or impatient. It is because of the one thing that we all need to survive in the modern world. That tiny but huge thing called money.
Unless you are dealing with an individual or a small passion driven company, there are usually of external forces at play that tend to force these tools to market prematurely .... all because of this little thing we all need to survive called money.
Investors, bosses, donors, all want to see the fruits of their seeds as soon as possible. For the most part, they prefer to start making money now, and fix the issues later. This is the idea behind the term "Move fast, break things" popularized by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Unfortunately, though good for them, this is not good for your business as it puts you in the position of the guinea pig.
If you are running a business, my recommendation is that you take a circumspect approach to new technologies that are released, especially ones that claim to be revolutionary.
If you cannot hire a technology expert to help you make a critical an un-biased assessment, try asking yourself the following questions in order:
- What are the problems with this technology? - very important
- In what way is this new thing better than what I am already doing?
- How is this going to help me make money or save time?
- Are improvements worth the money and time that I will spend to switch?
After taking a step back to run through these questions, you should have a fairly un-biased outlook on the technology. You are now in a good position to determine if the benefits outweigh the costs.