In British public elections, ballot papers are traditionally counted by hand. That might sound crude, inefficient and outdated, but the results usually come through within hours of the polls closing, and there have never been any major problems like the infamous “hanging chads” in the 2000 US Presidential election.

The system works because those involved have considerable experience.

However, for last week’s London mayoral election, the Electoral Commission – a new organisation set up to do a job no one had thought it necessary to do before – decided to use a new form of electronic counting.

The results came in a day later than those counted by hand in other parts of the country.

Entrepreneurs in particular can learn two useful lessons from this.

First, do not try to solve a problem you do not have: you may end up with one after all.

Second, high tech is not always best – and technology is certainly no substitute for people who know what they are doing.