What is a BTA and can your organization benefit from the process?

A Business Technology Assessment (BTA) is an analysis of your business processes, technology, solutions and the experience of your end users as it relates to the flow of business technology and data in your organization.

UBEO leads with this critical first step when we seek new partnerships with potential clients, but why would we slow down our sales process to conduct a Business Technology Assessment? Let's break this up into a few specific questions.

What is the value of a BTA to my organization?

For all organizations big or small, documentation is critical to the success and an essential function of daily business. Whether you are a non-profit or a Fortune 100 enterprise company, you will rely heavily on business document processes to run your business successfully.

What happens when your business technology like your MFP's, scanners, document management and other document systems stop working? What does that do to your operations? Consider the effect of interrupting processes in Human Resources, Finance, or Accounts Receivable. Even if you are confident that your systems are well designed and fully functional, isn't it better to for sure?

What specific information does a BTA provide?

• Uncovers inefficient workflows, applications, and document processes that unnecessarily waste labor and resources running your daily operations
• Highlights areas of unregulated expenses and hidden costs such as unmanaged printing consumables, outsourced marketing collateral, and user behaviors that increase costs due to a lack of oversight
• Reveals how technology can give your organization leverage to add capacity without the need to add headcount
• Provides a roadmap to streamline your technology to drive company goals and initiatives

To discuss a Business Technology Assessment for your organization, complete the request here. 

Who conducts a BTA?

A BTA is primarily conducted by a Business Analyst and the Account Manager. This team will lead the process and engage other experts within our organization to assist when needed. UBEO has made a large investment in a team of certified specialists in the many areas including:

• imaging hardware
• scanning solutions
• integrated applications
• digital document management
• production print systems
• workflow analysis
• information technology management

Throughout the BTA process, these experts will be brought in to work with different departments, specialists, and decision makers within your organization to deliver a different level of due diligence and understanding of your organization’s goals and initiatives as it relates to business technology. This team approach, specialty product knowledge and expertise provide a tremendous amount of value to our clients.

What happens during a BTA?

The following outline sounds like a lot, but nearly all of the work you see below is done by UBEO. What we need from your team is guidance and partnership.

Here is an overview of the process:

1. Goals – A Business Technology Assessment will begin with a conversation around the goals, initiatives, projects and future growth of your organization. We seek to understand the goals of your organization so we can align your technology to help meet those goals. We seek to serve you as a strategic partner, not a vendor.

2. The Walk – Next, your UBEO team will walk your facility and collect data required for the analysis. At the same time, we conduct brief interviews with your users to uncover their challenges and identify potential areas of improvement. We are also observing workflow and the condition of your current devices when collecting the essential data.

3. Supporting Documentation – We also will collect any contracts and invoices related to your current print fleet. The goal of this is to understand where you are in your current contracts as well as the term of those contracts. We will also be looking at all additional known as well as possible unknown currently monthly expenses to create a full forensic financial analysis for the assessment process.

4. The Analysis – Most of the work is done in the Analysis phase. Your UBEO analyst will compile all of data and observations. We produce a deliverable that communicates a clear understanding of costs, existing challenges, and areas of improvement.

5. The Findings – At this stage, we present the results of the entire assessment to your leadership team and dig deep into the information. The goal of this exercise is to provide a complete view of the hard and soft costs associated with your technology and report the experience your users have with the current technology on a daily basis.

6. The Solution – UBEO's one of a kind acquisition program as well as our brand agnostics solutions will be tailored and co-authored with all decision makers in your organization to create a strategic solution for your organization.

7. Implementation – As a strategic partner, we move into the implementation phase that is led by our implementation team of Solution Architects, the Business Analyst & Solution Specialist to ensure your strategic solution is implemented as agreed upon by both organizations.

When is the right time to conduct a BTA?

A Business Technology Assessment can be conducted at any time. Most organizations begin to look at these issues when the technology starts to fail. However, our goal is to begin the process as soon as possible to help eliminate that from happening to your team. Technology progresses so quickly and usually gets better, faster, and cheaper. The older your fleet gets, the more unreliable it becomes, and the more of a liability it is for your team.

What if I am under contract?

UBEO is one of the largest business technology providers in the nation. Our size gives us greater buy-out flexibility than most other vendors in our industry. We can begin a buy-out conversation years before most other vendors are willing. Each case is unique, and if you need help understanding your situation, reach out to our team and we can assist.

Many of the solutions UBEO provides are not related to any contractual agreements. Most contracts are only related to a company's large Multi-function Printers. Document management challenges, print only devices, large volume printing and other IT challenges are all areas that may not be related to any contractual agreements. 

How do I start the conversation?

If you are interested in getting a Business Technology Assessment for your organization, complete our request form here.