The Valley Business Journal April 18

April 2018
THE VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL
www.TheValleyBusinessJournal.com
29
2018 Technology Trends - by Stefani Laszko
In January CompTIA, the preeminent
information technology trade organization,
released their annual IT Industry
Outlook 2018 report. Within the report I
found a write up titled Small Businesses
Embrace Technology, But Gaps Remain
really interesting. Based on their survey
of SMB’s perception of their overall IT
spend they found 12% believe they are
spending much too low, 28% somewhat
too low, 47% spend about right and 9%
feel that they spend too much.
Evaluating Return on Investment
(ROI) for IT spend is difficult. Oftentimes
individual perception supersedes a
true understanding of what is happening
‘behind the scenes’. The top five reasons
that technology ROI falls short are described
as:
1. Ongoing maintenance expense – 41%
2. Required upgrades – 37%
3. Staff time needed to operate and/or
maintain equipment – 37%
4. Upfront cost – 36%
5. Complexity and/or poor user experience
– 32%
Interestingly, these points encompass
subjective and objective thoughts
but they all boil down to falling short on
one thing – expectations. Technology is
difficult in general and as a non-technical
person owning an IT company I totally
get it (don’t worry I have a very technical
partner!), but it’s up to you as the decision
maker to understand everything or hire
an IT company to bring you recommendations
and manage your environment.
To be candid, unless you are naturally
a technical person or find it fascinating,
trying to understand everything is difficult
at best and ridiculously time consuming
as worst, pulling you away from running
your business.
While it is still common for larger
companies to have in house staff to
manage IT, I would argue that it is much
more cost effective to hire an IT company
to assist you and you staff with your
IT needs. And I can back up my claims
with proof of a ROI! Of the SMB survey
respondents, 75% of them use a technology
partner. If you compare the numbers
though, many of those 75% responders
are frustrated with their perceived lack of
ROI. So how do we bridge the gap? It all
boils down to communication.
The top five reasons listed above are a
great framework of an ongoing conversation
that you should be having with your
IT provider. Challenge them to give you
an accurate estimate of time and financial
commitment and hold them to it. A solid
IT partner will welcome the conversation
and as a result you should have a better
understanding of what you are paying for
and you will hopefully have a stronger
working relationship based in mutual
respect and trust. You can’t do business
without IT and IT companies cannot do
business without you so we all need to be
working to bridge the gap!
Mythos Technology is an IT consulting
and management firm that provides
Managed Services including hosted
cloud solutions. For more information,
please visit www.mythostech.com or call
(951) 813-2672.
18th Annual Temecula Art & Street
Painting Festival Applications Available Online
The City of Temecula hosts the
18th Annual Temecula Art & Street
Painting Festival on Friday, Saturday,
and Sunday, June 8, 9, and 10, 2018
located in Old Town Temecula. Chalk
Artist and Art Exhibitor applications are
now available online at http://temeculaca.gov/artfest.
Each year Temecula’s Art & Street
Painting Festival draws thousands of
visitors to Old Town Temecula for this
unique art show including fine artists,
ceramicists, jewelry designers, and
photographers showing and selling
their work in festival tents lining Town
Square Park, Main Street, and the Civic
Center quad.
Temecula’s Art & Street Painting
Festival features large, detailed, and
colorful chalk murals on Main Street.
Artists of all media are invited to participate
and showcase their talents in
the exhibition area. This three-day event
highlights mural artists creating an asphalt
gallery of chalk art masterpieces
some as large as 10-feet by 12-feet.
The application and fee deadline is
Monday, May 7, 2018 for Art Exhibitors,
and Monday, May 21st for Chalk
Artists. Please note that all artwork must
be appropriate for family and public
viewing.
For more information, please call
Temecula’s Community Services Department
at (951) 694-6480.