We don't spend much on IT - is that okay?

Without being rude – hello, it is 2011, not 1911! You should be spending as much on IT as is required to achieve strong productivity.

If you can spend nothing on IT and have full productivity, then you have a nice business model and no dependence on communication, supply chain management, financial tracking, online marketing, stock control, asset management, payroll, BAS statements for GST, computer-aided design or manufacture, document management, customer relationship management, knowledge management or any other of the many things IT is used for. I suggest you enjoy your low-tech business for as long as you possibly can, and spend little or nothing on IT.

It may be the case that you can still run your sales business off a card file system; amazingly, I have seen businesses where this is still in use. In fact, just recently, I saw a real estate agent who swore by his card file system and saw no use for computers to drive productivity. He also spent a lot of hours in the office ensuring his staff were actually at work and making their calls. Little did he know that a good CRM system with click to dial could tell him how many calls each sales person was making in a day, who to and how long they were on each call for.

He also had no idea of sales in the pipeline, except for those reported to him in the weekly sales meeting. He would not know about the dashboards that can show sales in the system, and progression steps towards an outcome. Of course, he could also boast he had the most experienced sales team around, as not one of his sales crew was under 45 years of age. Not that I would say they were crusty. They just knew how to work a card file system. They were also very used to being constantly watched over by a micro-managing boss.

On the property management front, he provided about the worst service to tenants and landlords I have seen in nine years of running my business. Yes, he had a card file system for that too! No call request tracking system, no account tracking, and no automatic arrears reporting.

So, if this is a good model for your business, then no, you don't to need to spend a lot on IT and, yes, that is okay.

However, if you would like to have reliable IT systems that reduce your reliance on staff, appeal to younger workers and give you information at your fingertips to ensure sales are not slipping by untracked, that clients are not being kept waiting for days for answers, and that your invoices are being paid in a timely manner, chances are that 2011 is a year for a new beginning. Start it with a sound IT strategy, and a budget that will help you to make the right decisions and invest in solutions that provide a greater return on investment (ROI), rather than a cheap price and low ROI.

IT experts who work with thousands of computers know that a planned and well-executed IT strategy will lead to a lower total cost of your productivity increase. Spending on under-performing components will lead to bottlenecks in systems that reduce the effectiveness of the whole system. So, design of the whole system is important. Finding IT advisors who have worked with hundreds of businesses will give you a better chance of getting a good functional design and the best possible ROI.

So, in 2011, if not spending much on IT works for your business, enjoy it. Otherwise, seek guidance as soon as you can to ensure your money is spent as well as possible to maximise your productivity results.

David Markus is the founder of Combo - the IT services company that ensures IT is never an impediment to growth.