KICKER
TECHNOLOGY TODAY By Michael Mayberry Budgeting for technology T
echnology is absolutely necessary for green industry companies, but it can be expen- sive to implement in your business. De- ciding on a whim to add something new
could be extremely disruptive to your bottom line. So how can you add technology to your company without taking a big hit?
Process mapping
Te first step to adding new technology is planning, and that should start with process mapping. Process mapping is when you graphically draw out the flow of work so that you can see all of the steps involved. By doing this, you can identify waste in your current system, look for repetitive tasks that can be auto- mated and understand how the new tech you are trying to implement will reduce human labor and increase efficiency.
It’s important to understand how long technology will need to
operate before reaching the break- even point when budgeting.
Tis is a very important step that most people
skip because it is difficult and time-consuming. However, it helps to ensure you don’t try to mash a new technology into your old systems and try to function the same way, which is the cause of many implementation failures. Process mapping will help you determine ROI
by highlighting the current human tasks that will be replaced by your newly implemented technolo- gy. Tis process will also show your company’s true needs. You may think you need a system to commu- nicate with all your staff. But through process map- ping, you may find the ROI isn’t going to cover the cost of the new technology, which indicates that is not the best value for your investment. It may show that you have a real bottleneck in your invoicing de- partment and instead should focus on technology that will help solve that issue.
Michael Mayberry is the chief technology officer for Level Green Landscape LLC in Upper Marlboro,
Maryland. He can be reached at
michael.mayberry@
levelgreenlandscaping.com.
8 Irrigation & Lighting Late Fall 2022 Budgeting
Once you have determined what technology you will implement, it is time to start budgeting. Te idea behind adding any new technology should be
that after a certain time period it will pay for itself. Often, the way technology will pay for itself is by freeing up time for your employees to focus on oth- er tasks. If you had a person who was responding to all potential employee candidates and you add- ed technology to automate those communications, that person should then be able to focus on another value-add task for the company that wasn’t possible when they were constantly communicating with po- tential new hires. Te other way technology can pay for itself is to
allow your people to manage more without affect- ing their work-life balance. For example, if you can add software that allows your account managers to go from managing $1 million each to $1.5 million each, with three account managers that means your business can handle an additional $1.5 million in work without adding any extra people. Before the software, you would have to add one or two extra people to get the same effect. In this example, let’s say the cost of adding those employees with benefits could be up to $150,000, but the software is only $30,000 a year. In that setup, adding the software would save you $120,000 each year. It’s important to understand how long technol-
ogy will need to operate before reaching the break- even point when budgeting. Typically, it takes 1-3 years before a technology starts producing a real return on the investment. You should almost never add a new technology
on a whim. Te chances of it being successful and providing value for your company drop significant- ly if it’s not intentionally and thoughtfully added to your current stack.
Technology spending Green industry companies have historically not
budgeted any significant part of their revenue to- ward technology, so it is difficult for business owners to consider spending increasingly larger portions of their budget on technology. It is important to con- sciously increase your budget for technology each year so that the funds are available when you de- termine a technology is a right fit for your compa- ny. Even if you don’t have a specific technology in mind for the coming year, you should still budget to increase your technology spending. Across all in- dustries, the average budget for a small company’s technology is about 7% of revenue. How does your spending compare?
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