Editor’s Note: This column about small businesses and onboarding new security technologies is Part 2 of a two-part column from Paul Boucherle. To read Part 1, click to our web archives.

For small businesses — including security integration companies — operating today, onboarding emerging technology is challenging.

In Part 1, we covered some of the departmental impact issues that can arise for integration businesses, as well as suggestions for management. The goal is to ensure you have a concise, strategic plan that has been communicated so that everyone is rowing their boat in the same direction.

For small businesses like security integration firms, successful technology onboarding depends on team input and commitment to your final go/no-go decision. If your people know they have an initial input — positive or negative — and that they’ve been heard, they will commit.

Make sure these bases are covered before moving forward; otherwise, the new technology may go prematurely overboard.

So, who or what did I miss last month? Let’s dig deeper.

Your Service Team

If you’re an integrator, don’t make the mistake of not including your service team when you’re considering new technologies. Although your teams may be able to sell and install the technology you onboard, who is going to fix it when it breaks in six months? That would be your very valuable troubleshooting service department.

You will have a hard time gaining referrals if your technology is unreliable and you can’t maintain the solutions you deploy. Senior service team members are unique individuals who must have knowledge of many legacy systems. Want to add a new one? It should pass their sniff test before you deploy it!

So, who else has a stake in your success?

New Technology with Your Customer’s Team

To effectively engage your customer’s team, you must act early in a professional selling process. A well-defined “pilot program” openly shares the risks and qualifies the mutual reward targets. Often, hard data on ROI is not available with emerging technology; therefore, it’s wise to establish a mutually agreed upon target range that you’re shooting for.

Be overly conservative in what you promise. Why? Because you are a hero when you exceed limited expectations; however, you have diminished your credibility if you miss those targets!

I strongly encourage the senior management team selling with salespeople to close a new technology deal. Your salesperson should also schedule that meeting with their contact’s immediate manager.

Mutual commitment and support for new technology implementation targets can mitigate possible challenges that might follow. This ensures good communication and productive conflict resolution, while also instilling greater confidence in and among your sales team. Walk your talk, along with your customer’s management team.

The Supplier (Manufacturer) Team

A key element of any new technology being onboarded is to qualify the supplier closely and thoroughly. Collect the entire team and make sure that they outline questions of concern before you take the next step.

Key questions should include the following:

1. Where is this technology currently being deployed (i.e., which vertical markets)?
2. How many solutions have been deployed?
3. How long has this version been successfully working?
4. How long will this solution be supported in its current version?
5. How would we migrate this solution in the future?

You get the idea. Good questions mitigate the risk inherent to decision-making.

Key Elements of a New Technology Pilot Program

What makes for a good pilot program? There are five steps that will help your customer and you to put skin in the game.

1. Clarify what business (security) problem needs to be solved and why.
2. Establish target ROI (only a range); don’t promise unknown returns!
3. Gain senior management support for estimated business results.
4. Share and expect specific data points to gauge progress and results.
5. Put timelines on your pilot program to create urgency.

Emerging technologies can be both exciting and terrifying. They’re exciting if you are prepared to leverage new opportunities for growth and if you’re a thought leader with your customers. Don’t let competitors scoop you! They’re terrifying if you are not prepared with a vision and a plan.

Remember: It is always challenging when you don’t keep your customer updated on emerging technologies — because your competition will. You will dislike playing defense in that scenario!

If you need help with pilot programs, please reach out to me via e-mail. I would be happy to talk with you.

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