Costly Pitfalls

Buying the next new thing without a plan.
While the next new thing sound great and the hype is hard to ignore, is it really for you? How are you going to use it? And then you find out it’s not really what you needed.

It’s important to define your needs, without regard to the tools that are available, and then find the tools that can meet those needs.

Beginning in 2023 AI (Artificial Intelligence) has become the “next big thing” and many organizations are jumping into without plan as noted above. First, many AI solutions are not really AI, they are simply complex algorithms that appear to be AI to the uneducated eye. But most importantly, simply follow the notes from this page. Dig into it, defined your needs, ensure the app doesn’t infringe on your website, that it doesn’t collect your sensitive information and is priced in a manner that you can get of the deal if not satisfied.

Lack of proper controls in your business.

The most common error in this area is trusting your “trusted” employee without oversight. “But I trust them”. One of the largest reasons for fraud is trust without controls (Association of Certified Fraud Examiners). They found that overseeing those you don’t trust results results in less fraud than from those you trust without oversight.

Failure to delegate

This is a hard one. You developed your business based on your knowledge and skills and now you’re overwhelmed and need to add staff to meet the growth demands. But they don’t do it the same way you do. Training and education is the key, but this hard for you to let go. But once you do, with a solid plan, your business will flourish.

Failure to consider Zero Time Reporting
This is a phrase Info-Stat developed in the late 1990s where once your Excel spreadsheet is completed, when your data is entered (or imported), the report is done. In other words, no additional data manipulation is needed. For one time Excel projects this is not that critical, but for periodic reporting type projects, this is critical.