What is a Technology Ecosystem?

When all of the different parts and pieces of your technology infrastructure—from your equipment fleet to your network devices to your point-of-sale systems—are seamlessly working together, you don’t even think about them. The same applies to the relationships that you have with your suppliers, vendors, distributors, and even customers.

However, when a system begins to have performance issues or a supplier faces production problems, you will likely notice downstream effects that can affect your productivity.

All of these interconnected systems and groups and how they interact with one another is your technology ecosystem.

Given rapidly accelerating technology and customers’ increasing desire for responsive, tailored services, how can you make your technology ecosystem work better for you?

What is a technology ecosystem?

There are two main parts to your technology ecosystem: your internal infrastructure and that of your vendors and suppliers. Both are interdependent and interconnected, enabling you to service your customers and work efficiently.

More specifically, your internal technology ecosystem includes the hardware, software, and middleware that your organization uses to facilitate business. This includes payment and transaction technology, network devices, point-of-sale systems, and the software that tracks and facilitates it all.

The same applies to the hardware and software utilized by your suppliers and vendors to indirectly support your customers. If they are not performing ongoing maintenance or if their systems go down, it can affect your performance too.

How have technology ecosystems evolved?

If you take a moment to look at the various types of hardware and software you have deployed throughout your business, you likely have devices from a wide range of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and varying software and hardware versions. Making it even more complex, each device likely has different levels of warranty coverage and preventive maintenance plans in place.

This hybrid coverage not only can make the integration and cohesiveness of your technology ecosystem more difficult to manage, but also very expensive. When you have to call different vendors to service different systems, you will have to sort through different prices, standards, response times, and scopes of service to ensure your technology ecosystem is operating as it should. When this happens, you lose the economies of scale that come with servicing all of your devices with one provider.

How can technology ecosystem management be simplified?

Fortunately, just as technology has evolved, the options for managing it have too. Here are some of the best ways to boost the efficiency and effectiveness of your technology ecosystem management.

First, begin with an inventory of your current technology ecosystem, including where the devices are, their operating system (OS) levels, maintenance services, and service contract renewal dates. Having this information will help you feel more organized and aware of the devices that you have and allow you to capture a “current state” of your technology ecosystem to identify next steps.

Next, armed with this device inventory, consider partnering with an OEM-agnostic service provider like Burroughs, with the experience, nationwide service footprint, program management, and training needed to service all of your devices, regardless of manufacturer. This will not only make troubleshooting and preventative maintenance easier with just one point of contact but also less stressful and more cost-effective. 

Burroughs also offers additional services to keep your equipment running, including Remote Monitoring and Managed Service support, a 24/7 tech support and help desk, and forward-stocking locations and distribution centers across North America ready to support your fleet at any time.

Finally, some organizations have even adopted device-as-a-service (DaaS) solutions, such as TransacTec™. With this service, everything is integrated and handled from end to end. That means no more worrying about management, maintenance, and everything else that makes up your payment and transaction technology ecosystem.  

Take the next step with Burroughs.

Although technology has changed how connected, productive, and efficient our organizations can be, your costs and efforts have likely increased to keep them running as they should.

Fortunately, with a proactive, experienced, and vendor-agnostic provider like Burroughs, managing and refining your technology ecosystem can stop being a headache and instead be a force multiplier.

Ready to learn more? The team at Burroughs welcomes the chance to get to know you and your business. 

In the meantime, check out our free guide to learn more about taking care of your payment and transaction technology ecosystem.