What’s your tech usage percentage?

Have you ever owned a product or a computer program that you have used for years? You think you understand every facet of this product. Then one day you discover that it does something that you had no idea it could do.

In my experience, this hidden function is often something that could have saved you loads of time, frayed nerves, and money.

My own “revelation” concerned Excel’s SUMIFS function. Instead of spending hours going through a nine-hundred-plus-row spreadsheet looking for specific values, I could have written one little function, chosen the relevant criteria, and with the press of the “enter” key, I would have been done in ten minutes.

Costs of “old-fashioned way”

In retrospect, I should have known that Excel included such a convenient function, but I kept doing it the “old-fashioned way” because that’s the way I had been taught, and that’s the way I had always done it.

Although it took an astronomical amount of time, my method worked. So, why modify it? Why spend time searching for an alternative technique?

Unfortunately, many financial institutions we encounter stick to the “old-fashioned way,” as well. Some because the old way works and they see no reason to change. And others because they simply don’t know what their vendors have to offer.

Most likely, many financial institutions are paying for a time-saving product that they’re not using to its full potential!

“We have a CRM tool?”

A prime example is a client who claimed they did not have a customer relations management tool. After reviewing their contracts, we learned that they did have access to a CRM—and were paying for it.

They just didn’t know about it , so they weren’t using it.

Instead, they used a program that closely resembled a rudimentary spreadsheet and was rarely updated, contained multiple duplications, and barely functioned as even a mailing list.

They missed valuable opportunities to cross-sell their products and engage in targeted marketing campaigns because the “old way” worked and nobody bothered to find a more efficient solution.

When you sign a contract with a vendor, make sure you use everything you are paying for! Ensure you understand what’s included in “Packages” or “[Insert Name Here] Suites.”

Time and money both swirl around the drain when you let your purchased products sit idle.