Many small to midsize businesses are hesitant to replace existing technology because they fear high costs and disruption to business operations. At the end of the day, they often decide to roll the dice with what they have rather than deal with the potential risk and uncertainty of the unknown.

Without access to business applications, data and cloud resources, many organizations can’t function. In a best-case scenario, operations are severely limited, which results in low productivity, missed deadlines, lost sales, a poor customer experience and high mitigation costs.

Everybody likes to save a buck now and again. However, buying inexpensive, consumer-grade technology for your business can result in significant hidden costs.

In a recent survey of nearly 3,000 working adults in the U.S., the software company Samanage found that one in four believe their productivity is being impeded by inadequate technology.

In our last post, we explained why a network upgrade is the inevitable consequence of digital transformation. Cloud computing, mobility and analytics solutions are increasing the strain on already overburdened networks. Legacy network architectures simply aren’t capable of handling today’s bandwidth demands, creating bottlenecks that negatively impact application performance and the user experience.

Given the rapid pace of change in the IT industry, it’s difficult to predict which technology trends will take hold in 2017. Industry analysts have their sights set on things like augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and ever-increasing numbers of smart devices connected to the Internet of Things (IoT).

Only time will tell whether any of those visions become reality.

Imagine needing a car for your business and having to assemble the various parts. You would have to purchase the chassis, engine, brakes, etc. — possibly from different vendors — and ensure that those components are compatible. Then you’d have to go through the arduous process of putting the pieces together and testing the finished vehicle.