When you ask a business owner what the most important aspect of their business is, you will get lots of different answers. Some will say it’s obviously the employees.
They are the ones their customers assess to see if their business is worth the time and effort. Others will say it’s all do with marketing and how the business appears to the consumer.
Without good marketing, their business would be dead in the water. Some might say they are the most important aspect of their business.
They keep the company on a steady course and ensure appropriate measures are taken when times are tough.
But, the correct answer is technology.
Technology is what employees use to run your business. It’s how you will market your company to the consumer, for the most part online.
Advanced tech is usually the reason you can cut back on spending and save your company from a fall.
With all that in mind, it is important to ensure your company is investing in the right tech.
Tech Security
Your business is constantly under threat. Big or small, commercial or niche, there will always be people out to profit from your success, usually through theft.
You have to protect yourself from this with two types of tech security.
You need to ensure your business premises is protected with CCTV cameras and the latest state of the art equipment.
You might think investing in fingerprint scanners and ID systems is overkill, particularly if you only own a small business.
But, even small businesses can be targeted for theft, and that is why it is best to be prepared. If you are working from home, you should still ensure the appropriate security measures are in place.
You may not be able to install CCTV, but if your home is registered as a business address, you should get all the protection you can.
The other half of protecting your business through tech is digital safety. These days you are most likely to be attacked through hacking.
A skilled hacker can break through firewalls and access your computer network before you even realise there is a problem.
To prevent this, you should be using the latest antivirus software as well as keeping encryptions and passwords on all your sensitive files.
If you do this, you have the best chance at stopping a hacker or cybercriminal from damaging your business.
IT Support
Another way to deal with security is by hiring an IT support team. Through IT outsourcing, you can get your computer network set up by professionals who know the type of security a business like yours needs.
But that is not the only advantage of using this type of tech resource. You will also have a team who will monitor your network and deal with any problem while alerting you.
A good computer network for sharing and storing files is particularly important if you want your company to be flexible.
It is vital that your employees can share and collect information no matter where they are. It also prevents you losing any work due to the network breaking down.
A skilled IT support team will have it back online in a matter of minutes, not days.
Latest Hardware
There are plenty of companies that think it is unnecessary to invest in the latest hardware.
Instead they believe their employees will be able to work fine using outdated technology. But, if you go down this route you are limiting the potential efficiency of your business.
It is the worst form of cutting costs because you actually cause your business to lose profits.
In simple terms if an employee is using an old computer, it is going to be operating slower than newer models. This means they will not be able to get as much done through the day.
Also, if you keep an eye on the latest advances in technology, you can actually save your business a lot of money.
For instance, you might be wasting a lot on a faxing machine or several fax machines that are expensive to maintain.
But, with a new online faxing service you can save costs on maintenance and make your company greener at the same time.
A Great App
In the wrong hands, an app is something that people waste hundreds of hours of their life on.
We’re looking at you, developers of Candy Crush and Angry Birds. But in the hands of a skilled business owner a new app can dramatically increase profit and interest in their company.
If your company has an app, you are immediately making it more open for your customers.
The average person looks at their phone one hundred times a day so you can see the huge marketing potential of a phone app. You can even speak to a developer who will design one that matches your company needs perfectly.
If you want it to be a place where consumers can make purchases, you can do that. Or, if you just want to give consumers more information in an interactive format you can do that too.
The power is in your hands, or rather the customer’s.
Call Handling And Video Conferencing
The market is competitive and expensive to be on, so you have to cut costs while you can.
We know a lot of companies still favour the older fashioned approach when meeting clients and new investors. But, for interacting with colleagues and business partners, an online conference call is more than enough.
You can see their face so you will be able to read their body language, and you will save money on travel.
You will no longer have to get the red eye from London to New York to ease the mind of an anxious partner.
You’ll be able to do it from the comfort of your office and still get the needed outcome.
When thinking about tech and calling, you should also think about investing in call handling technology.
The services provided by businesses in this area are crucial because it allows increased efficiency. You won’t have to waste time talking to people who aren’t actually interested in your business.
These callers will be dealt with automatically, and only the ones you need to speak to will be put through.
We hope this post has convinced you just how vital tech is to your business.
Don’t expect it to get any less important in the future.
The future of our world and your business is software and computers.
I absolutely agree that today the answer to the question you ask is technology – we live in a digital world, after all. Going paperless is the latest trend – it is really exciting, a decade ago we could not even imagine that it would be possible to run a business only with a smartphone. All the leading magazines like Entrepreneur write about it (entrepreneur.com/article/237468), although, many companies still ignore the technological progress.
You speak of security and IT support for a computer network, but I would argue that it is not necessary. After all, we talk about small businesses, you do not need hundreds of desktops to run it – a smartphone for each employee will be enough all right. It is absolutely possible, you can read the Forbes article (forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2014/11/24/can-you-run-a-business-entirely-from-a-mobile-phone/#5814bccc2931) on that topic. Another advantage is that you won’t need the latest hardware, only iPhones and iPads or Android devices.
You also mention that developing a great app is a good idea, and I do agree indeed. However, app can serve much more purposes than marketing. It can ensure your enterprise data security, track all the devices in the company, simplify the workflow, enhance productivity and so on – read more here – magora-systems.com/mobile-application-developers-london/
If you need call handling that much, you can simply include this feature in your corporate app, so you won’t need to invest in other software and equipment.
All in all, your post is a bit too redundant. All the issues you talk about can be handled through a mobile device.