If you wake up in the middle of the night with a brilliant idea to outpace your competitors, and that idea involves a major investment – pause. Take a deep breath. Maybe drink a glass of water to cool the excitement.
In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011), Daniel Kahneman describes fast thinking as one of two cognitive systems. While it’s natural and serves a purpose, it can also lead to a series of cognitive biases – especially when it interferes with slow thinking, which is crucial for making well-considered investment decisions.
Sounds simple and logical, right? But do you fully understand the complexity of implementing an investment, such as an IT solution? How should the journey to ROI actually look?
Step 1: Define the Problem
Before making any investment decision, take a step back and assess what your company truly needs. Discuss it with department heads. Start by analyzing your current processes and identifying areas for improvement.
What problem are you trying to solve?
Is it a lack of automation in energy management? No real-time KPI monitoring? Manually tracking maintenance for turbines and machines? Inefficient B2B platform management? Still relying on Excel for everything? These are just a few examples.
Sometimes, you don’t need new technology – you just need to optimize the tools you already have.
💡 You can do this yourself – download our checklist to make your process easier!
Step 2: Understand Available Solutions
Once you know what needs improvement, it’s time to explore which technologies can solve the issue. This is probably why you’re here – because the market lacks easily digestible knowledge, especially for those outside the IT world who want to understand how things work without reading lines of code.
For industrial and renewable energy companies, there are many technologies that can be tailored to specific needs. Here are just a few examples:
✅ Predictive Maintenance – anticipating failures through data analysis
✅ Big Data & Analytics – optimizing maintenance and fine-tuning machine performance
✅ SCADA, ERP & IoT Integrations – not just adding monitoring systems, but synchronizing them (e.g., via ETL)
✅ B2B Marketplace for Renewable Energy – optimizing and automating your existing platform to make it more efficient
Alright, but what about the cost?
Pricing in this sector varies widely. Companies often provide pricing brackets in case studies or use cases, but these are just estimates. The final cost depends on the scope of service, technology stack, project duration, and size of the development team.
However, reaching out to a company early gives you a strategic advantage – you’ll better understand their approach, gain valuable insights, and (finally) get an estimate.
Step 3: Engage with Potential Partners
If you haven’t yet reached out to service providers, you’ve already done a great job on your own. Kudos! 🎉
But now, you have enough knowledge to ask the right questions. It’s also the right time to start gathering offers – whether through direct contact, emails, or company websites.
Step 4: Choosing the Right Provider
Selecting an IT partner is about more than just price – though, of course, you’ll compare offers.
Here’s what else you should consider:
🔹 Industry Expertise – Does the company have experience in your field, or do they claim to do everything?
🔹 When do they get involved? – Are they waiting for you to handle everything on your own until you’re ready to buy, or do they engage earlier in the process?
🔹 Flexibility – A reliable software house supports you at any stage. You should have easy access to consultations, independent analysts, and expert advice. A good provider solves problems – not just delivers a service that might not fit your needs.
🔹 Integration with Your Existing Systems – Are they forcing you to replace your IT systems? Probably not necessary. Skilled developers integrate existing tools with new ones, display KPI measurements, and adapt to your requirements.
Step 5: Decision-Making – Minimizing Risk
By this stage, you should have both knowledge and materials to negotiate your investment with confidence.
At this point, you should have a personalized offer summarizing your entire decision-making process. A quality IT provider will outline:
✅ Their understanding of your company’s situation
✅ Analysis of the problem and your needs
✅ Proposed concept and recommended action plan
✅ Explanation of how the service works
✅ Project costs
✅ Metrics to measure success and ROI
You’ve done it!
You avoided make a blind purchase – you did not buy a pig in a poke.
💡 Taking a step-by-step approach is the key to a well-thought-out investment.
Technology is a strategic investment. When you make decisions with the right knowledge, you avoid wasting time and money while ensuring that the solution actually delivers ROI.
You can start on your own or with our help.
