Every modern business, regardless of its size or niche, is now completely dependent on technology. We rely on it for our communications, logistics, and keeping the whole operation efficient enough to stay competitive. While you may have all the basics down, there are many small business owners who feel overwhelmed by all the different kinds of business tech out there, and what they should be investing in. Here are a few key pointers to help you out…
Don’t Be a Cheapskate
We’ll say it again: all modern businesses are completely dependent on technology. Entrepreneurs from all walks of life rely on tech to communicate, and therefore provide a competitive standard of customer service. Without this, not to mention all the other niche-specific things you might need commercial technology for, your customers will become dissatisfied with your brand, and your employees will find it hard to keep up with their obligations. If your business is in its early stages, investing in tech might sound pretty expensive, but it’s going to cost you far less than sticking to an obsolete way of doing things! Obviously, you don’t want to bankrupt yourself. However, scrimping too much on technology can really come back to bite you. You’d be surprised how much value you can get from just a few affordable SaaS apps. You can read up on some of the most popular ones here: https://www.channele2e.com/2017/01/23/top-25-saas-cloud-apps-for-business-2017/.
Leverage Analytics
Modern-day analytics is highly sophisticated, and keeps developing all the time. Some of this tech is directed at specific niches, like the bug-testing setup covered in this post: https://www.qasymphony.com/blog/guide-using-jira-test-case-management/.
However, one aspect of it that pretty much every business can use is customer analytics. This can answer a range of valuable questions about the way your business is operating that you never thought to ask before. Knowing the way your customers are interacting with your websites, and the demographics that typically buy from you, is absolutely essential if you want your marketing efforts to be in-step with the competition. As you use this tech to become better acquainted with the who, where, what and why, you’ll be able to narrow your marketing down on an ideal customer, and see your conversions go through the roof!
Make Yourself Mobile
The days where 24-hour response time was considered standard and acceptable are long gone. The modern consumer base wants to be able to contact your customer service agents whenever they want, and they’ll expect a pretty prompt response as well! If your business isn’t mobile, then you’re going to miss out on a lot of time-constrained opportunities, and chase away potential leads. Aside from that, you should be able to manage staff, and check on your profit margins wherever you are. If all of this sounds pretty alien to you, it’s time to invest in some small business tech that will offer you such flexibility. Even if the bulk of your transactions happen in a physical store, many of your customers will want the ability to contact you 24/7. Their experience with your business through mobile devices should be just as frictionless as in-person.
