Future Now III – Low Tech Trumps High Tech

In our Future Now series, we’ve been exploring how advances in technology can enable us to stay ahead of the curve for business trends. But I want to share an alternate view of the Future Now philosophy – knowing when there isn’t a high tech solution, and relying instead upon good old-fashioned ingenuity.  This may seem contrary to what we’ve already talked about with Future Now, but I firmly believe that the wider view in this whole mindset is to know when technology isn’t the optimal solution, and making the decision to look to alternate ideas that can complement and coexist with technology.

Take, for example, this recent event. A new client asked MySherpa® to virtualize their Linux server farm – a grouping of dozens of individual computers, each with a task-specific purpose.  They wanted to make a proactive move to consolidate and decommission the units, reducing their carbon footprint and risk of mechanical failure.  The MySherpa® Project Team planned and moved all of the Linux machines to a virtual host running VMware, saving the client headaches and future power bills. A concise plan, using the best server technology available, correct?

But then the question remained: what to do with the orphaned server farm PCs?  Many service companies would see the opportunity to cleanse and dispose of these computers as a goldmine – charging the client fees for getting rid of the units. However, the MySherpa® team saw this as an additional opportunity to save money and time for the client – engaging what some would call a “low-tech” solution.

MySherpa® came up with a novel idea: we suggested that our client use interns or part-time workers to assist in the cleanup process. Our clients did one better and brokered a deal with a local Boy Scout troop. The Scouts could remove the hard drives as a community service act, and in return, our client agreed to generously donate to the upcoming Jamboree fund.  The cleansed machines would then be donated to Goodwill Delaware for re- purposing.  The scouts are just as capable of using screwdrivers as one of our technicians, and with proper guidance, could easily remove hard drives safely and securely.

For a fraction of the cost, our client not only received a cleaned up server room, but also the grateful thanks of the Scout community. In this situation, our Project Team considered all the possibilities –not just technological – and were able to devise a creative and unusual solution to an issue that didn’t necessarily have to be a high-tech or expensive. MySherpa® seeks to add value for every project we work on; the Future Now mindset is what allows us to know how to pick the correct solution for our clients, every time.

 

Best regards from the summit!

 

Greg

 

Sherpa compliment of the week:

“ I can enthusiastically recommend MySherpa as an exceptionally good IT service provider in every sense of the way.  They came up with solutions that met our budget until we could overhaul the systems.    Julie Van Blarcom, Executive Director, Delaware Children’s Museum,  Wilmington, DE

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