Welcome to the newest post in our blog series, Darren’s Great Ideas! for Independent Operators.
Before Purchasing New Technology, Use What You Have
Technology is such an important word in our culture today, and we often think more and better technology is the solution to whatever challenge we’re facing. During my visits with truckstop and travel plaza operators, many of them tell me they’re thinking of investing in new technology. I always like to dig a little deeper into why.
It typically turns out that what the operator is really after is a new or better way to collect more information on customers. As you know I am a huge proponent of information, but I don’t always believe that collecting more information is necessary.
So many operators already have information in their current systems or have the ability to garner that information and just aren’t using it. Before deciding to invest in new technology, I think operators should figure out how to mine the information they have.
People often think newer technology will be a magic bullet, but there isn’t a magic bullet. There can be a never-ending desire to get more information and consequently not acting on the information you have.
I recently wrote about how to calculate the return on investment on new technology, and I think it is important to ask yourself what you want to gain from any major investment. If your top answer is more information, take a step back and look at how you are using the data you already have. If you’re either not using it or not using your current system’s capabilities to collect it, start. You may find that you don’t need to purchase new systems to get the information you’re after.
/// Read more Darren's Great Ideas for Independent Operators posts here.
Subscribe to Updates
NATSO provides a breadth of information created to strengthen travel plazas’ ability to meet the needs of the travelling public in an age of disruption. This includes knowledge filled blog posts, articles and publications. If you would like to receive a digest of blog post and articles directly in your inbox, please provide your name, email and the frequency of the updates you want to receive the email digest.
