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The Technical Debt Red Virus, or under-purchasing technology, has been known to run rampant in franchise organizations. The Red Virus manifests itself through the notion that, once purchased, technology should last forever and be instantly and freely upgradeable. Organizations suffering from the Red Virus are constantly negotiating with their vendors on “sunset dates” for longer support of software or hardware.

Additional symptoms of the Technical Debt Red Virus include:

• Your organization is forced to purchase replacement hardware on eBay because that is the only place it is available
• Recent college graduates are unfamiliar with the technology
• Conversations with vendors start with, “What does the cheapest thing do…”
• Purchasing two systems to solve “some” of your requirements when for an additional 10 percent you can address “most” of your requirements

Organizations suffering from the Red Virus generally feel that technology provides no competitive advantage and is merely a cost center that drains profits. Most organizations suffering from this strain of Technical Debt will have “IT Cost Cutting” programs formally or informally in place.

Each strain of the Technical Debt virus feeds off each of the other strains. Organizations infected with the Green Virus (over-buying) can often overreact to the situation and find themselves knee-deep in a strain of the Red Virus (under-buying). Without clear alignment to long-term goals, the Orange Virus (non-strategically aligned purchases) can easily mutate to either Red or Green.

So what is a company to do? Is every firm doomed to suffer the fate of being eaten alive by Technical Debt? The key is not to try and remove Technical Debt but to effectively manage it. Very rarely does a technology package exactly meet the business’ need. One version of Technical Debt must be assumed as a result. The key is to manage that debt and understand the long-term impact of acquiring it.

Here are some additional things you can do to manage your Technical Debt:

• Create a long-term IT strategy and vision. Align every project with that strategy. If a project does not align with the strategy, dump it.
• Project the five-year maintenance cost of any technology approach. Do not allow these costs to be “just part of what Fred does every day.” Fred might take another job tomorrow; then what will you do?
• Define your requirements to a detailed level before you make your purchasing decision. Don’t base your requirements on the first proposal you get. Know what you want/need ahead of time.
• Challenge your business partners on the criticality of each requirement. If one requirement can be dropped and, in turn, save 25 percent of the long-term costs, is it worth it? (If done regularly, this one tip alone could probably reduce IT budgets by as much as 15 percent).
• Knowing it’s cheaper to have a human do something doesn’t make it a better option. Understand the cost of data integrity issues and the timeliness of data.
• Ask the question: How many other systems or departments will need the data that is captured or created by this system? If the answer is greater than zero, then understand the costs to extend that data before you implement (because trust me, someone will want it).
• A saying in restaurant IT states that if a new system can’t add at least one percent to the bottom line, quit wasting time on it. Plenty of others can. Just because it’s a good idea, doesn’t mean you should do it.

In general, businesses should make sure they understand the Technical Debt impact of each and every technology decision they make. Technical Debt is completely justifiable in many instances. Just make sure that it is carried throughout the life of the system.

What are your thoughts? I’d love to gain some additional perspectives. Leave a comment, or E-mail me at Todd.Michaud@FranchiseIT.org. You can also follow me on Twitter: @todd_michaud.

And don’t forget to follow my Ironman training progress at www.IronGeek.me.