Early Proprietary Technology Investment Strengthens Competitive Edge

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Proprietary is something that is exclusively owned by one company or individual for a specific purpose. Proprietary technology, unlike proprietary trading, is being embraced by technology managers for good reason: It can give technology companies an advantage over their competitors by keeping competitive methods private. Early investment in proprietary technology is advised for the following reasons.

Not Embracing It Hurts Competitive Edge

Technology managers work in a volatile industry where the leading company can change on a daily basis. The best way to secure market share and sales is to the best at what you do, but in order to do that you may need to keep your methods and your technology secret. While it can be a great service to the industry as a whole if you share your methods to success, keeping information proprietary gives your company the competitive edge. It is important for technology managers to embrace proprietary technology so as not to lose this advantage.

Proprietary Technology Increases Efficiency

Communication and performance are two important components technology managers must direct in order to succeed. These two areas are difficult enough to manage without the hassle of making technology work for your needs. Instead of trying to force technology to work in a way that fits your company’s communication and performance structure, it may be more efficient in the long-term to develop technology that fits specific needs of your company. That way, your team can focus on its goals instead of making other company’s technology work for them. Proprietary technology may be expensive to develop, but technology managers may wish to look towards it to increase company productivity.

It Improves Communications

Proprietary technology can help to improve business communications at every level. Proprietary tech can facilitate efficient, streamlined team communication and collaboration. It can also improve client communications, by improving outdated methods of contact. Obviously, proprietary technology’s impact on client and employee communications improves company communications as a whole, as well. Unified communications and collaboration are necessary in modern business, and proprietary technology can help improve efficiency and productivity in this area.

It Can Strengthen Your Brand

Technology managers would be wise to take a cue from Apple in strengthening their brand. By developing a number of proprietary technology, Apple set itself apart from its competitors with its unique style and format. Proprietary technology helped Apple’s iPad become the leading tablet computer sold in the early 2000s; in fact, the brand is so strong that many technology users refer to other brand tablets as iPad. This proprietary technology runs throughout Apple products, making it easier for technology users to adopt similar Apple products rather than switching to a competitor. Technology managers wishing to build a large brand and grow market share should take note of Apple’s success with proprietary technology.

Proprietary Technology Saves You Money

Technology managers must manage expenses with short term and long term goals in mind, as all leadership workshops will teach you. Although investing in proprietary technology is expensive in the short term, it can save a company money in the long term. As a company grows, it may require more technology resources that can be purchased from other vendors. This could be an outright acquisition of another company or it could be done via paying a company to develop software for the growing company’s use. As the company grows it will be increasingly expensive to purchase competitors, assuming they are growing at a similar rate. It is also prohibitively expensive to pay another company to maintain software that must be updated and improved over time. By investing in proprietary technology at an early stage, the technology manager can control these expenses with incremental improvements in-house, thereby saving money in the long run.

Proprietary technology can be extremely useful for technology managers. Despite an expensive early investment, proprietary technology gives technology managers greater control, increased efficiency, a chance to grow a company’s brand and secures the competitive advantage. It can also be sold to other companies to increase revenue at a later stage in the company’s business cycle.

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