If there was anything for businesses to learn in the past year, it had to be the importance of operational flexibility—after all, a raging pandemic tends to keep people out of the office. Now, with multiple vaccines in production, it seems apparent that these restrictions will soon be eased… but will any of the changes in business operations remain, even after they are necessary?
The influence of COVID-19 has permeated through most aspects of daily life, from the way we live, communicate, work, and for many, the way we learn. As schools must remain closed for now, that is not to say that the learning process will necessarily be suspended for all. Many institutions already have the necessary tools in place to continue their students’ education in the form of remote learning, but for many, this is uncharted territory.
Virtual reality was once the “next big thing.” As predictions for VR were made over the decades, it showed great promise to be a truly ground changing technology for businesses to adopt, especially for remote work. So… what happened?
As the holiday season we just survived shows us, new technology can be a really popular topic, especially for consumers. Businesses, on the other hand, have a lot of their excitement tempered by how much of a risk new tech presents - something could just as easily be a game-changer for their operations as it could prove to be a major source of problems that ultimately creates huge issues.
While most businesses need the same basic technology to support their operations, some industries have additional, more specific needs that require a more specialized tool to accomplish. As we leave this series behind, let’s briefly consider how a managed service provider can be a valuable resource for a business operating in one of these industries.
A person’s smartphone is more than just a phone to most people. In fact, smartphone use is now so expected that companies are now trying to find a way to utilize their employees’ use of their devices rather than keeping them from using them. Today, we thought we would take a look at the current smartphone market.
Many small businesses are making the switch to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). VoIP is able to provide many advantages over traditional landlines. Today, we will discuss features that even if you’ve already made the switch, you might not be taking advantage of.
Technology has helped many industries push beyond their limits and embrace new operational methods that may not have been possible in the past. One of these industries is healthcare and medical IT. Thanks to these advancements, patients have more options now than ever before in how much control they have over their records, but providers must be wary of these changes in order to take advantage of them.
The small business owner has to be much more diligent in the way they spend their company’s resources. Technology, and the automation that it often brings, can work to make your business more agile and efficient. The problem with implementing this technology is that it typically comes with large capital outlays and committing to spending big chunks of money can be impossible. We’ll take a look at how other small businesses have been investing in technology to help you determine what you should be prioritizing.
Five Important Technologies
In a study conducted by Capterra, 699 small business owners were asked what types of technologies they considered necessary for their business. The responding parties thought that the five most important technologies they currently use are:
We’ll go through each of these five to tell you how your organization can improve by deploying them.
Data & Information Security
With the use of technology, there comes some inherent risk. For every person using this information for the benefit of others, there is one that is looking to take that information and use it for personal (mostly financial) gain. That’s why investing in comprehensive network security measures is viewed as uncompromisingly necessary.
The data security market is pretty large, and as a result, there are a lot of solutions you can implement to confront your network security problems. Before we go into them, however, we’d be remiss to not mention that much of your ability to protect your data lies not with the technology you use, but with your people. Understanding solid security practices is essential for any organization that is looking to avoid security issues.
Some of the best data security out there lies in some pretty well-known technology, such as antivirus and firewalls. Beyond that, the best way to protect your data is to invest in a comprehensive data backup and recovery platform. By taking frequent backups of your data you can protect it from any manner of threats. With a comprehensive backup plan in place you are assured that whatever trouble you have with your network, your data’s security is on point.
Dynamic Website
Nowadays, almost every business has some sort of web presence. If they don’t have a dedicated website, they use social media to interact with the large number potential customers that utilize the Internet. For the growing business, it is important to invest some time and money in creating a web presence that helps you stand out. The best way to do this is by creating a website that offers customers a sample of your authority.
Having a well-designed, concisely worded, and easy to navigate website can go a long way toward engaging customers. This is especially true if you can find a way to leverage e-commerce capabilities. Giving customers a one-stop shop is a surefire way to get repeat business, and therefore is a solid place to invest company capital.
Cloud Computing
Nowadays, not only do businesses depend on cloud computing, but people do. It just makes sense as it provides several benefits that are advantageous for the small business. The cloud’s initial value comes from the access to critical applications that it provides. It may be hard for the small business to afford critical software if they were to buy and license them outright, but with software as a service (SaaS), offerings tend to be billed per license per month, eliminating the large capital costs and altering the way you pay for your IT. With cloud solutions being billed as small operational costs, it relieves the burden that spending big money on software can impose on a small business.
Additionally, cloud computing provides access to all types of computing environments. From development platforms to application deployment, from communications to storage, the cloud provides a lot of options for a business that needs the kind of scalability and security from their computing environments. Cloud platforms come in private (which an organization hosts) and public (which is hosted elsewhere). Many businesses today choose to roll out a hybrid of these two, utilizing public cloud resources for certain types of computing (such as applications and communications), while creating a private cloud platform that hosts resources that need more security and access control such as storage.
Customer Relationship Management
A comprehensive CRM can do so much for a business that it’s hard to summarize its benefits in this small space. A CRM, or customer relationship management program, is a piece of software that works to integrate several aspects of your business, while offering integrated automation to provide operational efficiency and set the groundwork for continued growth. How does it do this? By eliminating gaps in customer conversion.
There are many CRMs. Businesses can host them onsite or in the cloud. Some CRMs are created for specific vertical markets, some work in any market, but what compels organizations that have limited resources to put their eggs in the CRM basket is that is it works. In order to increase revenue, a customer base has to be formed. The CRM provides way to engage more customers, nurture them through the sales process, and support their needs, turning a new customer into a repeat customer.
When a small business runs their operations through a CRM, not only do they benefit from the time-saving automation the software provides, they also can view and generate better ideas and make more educated decisions. Ultimately, though, a CRM’s purpose is to organize the sales workflow process, and for that purpose, it excels. Not only does it provide options to track viable leads, but it also keeps every customer top of mind to help provide the best support possible.
Human Resources Software
When you start a business the rudest awakening you have is when you’re tasked with managing the human resources end of the business. Many small businesses today mitigate their growing pains and other personnel issues through the use of human resources management software. Hosted inhouse or in the cloud, HR software basically works to help all aspects of your business run more effectively.
HR software can automate a lot of the tedious, and often dubious, aspects of dealing with an organization’s human resources. It can handle the deployment of benefits, and, most notably, payroll, a pain for anyone tasked with doing it. HR software can also keep a business from making mistakes that could put the whole endeavor in jeopardy, and keep it in compliance with local, state, and federal employment laws.
HR software can also integrate with other management and operations software to give administrators a view on how certain parts of the business are being handled by certain employees. This provides a construct that is useful in the onboarding/offboarding processes as well as options that will help come up with better business strategies. Technology is a huge part of the modern business, and for small businesses it can work to level a playing field. For more information about technology, there’s no better people to ask than BEI’s IT professionals. Call us today at (844) BIZ-EDGE to discuss your business’ technology strategy.
The Internet of Things has verifiably exploded in popularity in almost every conceivable fashion, as was more or less expected before 2018. What can we expect from the IoT in 2019? We’ve compiled a few predictions.