Being a small company, you’re probably finding it difficult to find the resources to implement new technologies and processes, and this sometimes makes you feel like you’re constantly sitting in the backseat. But this doesn’t always have to be the case, by keeping you foot on the peddle of innovation, you can modernise your company, stay ahead of the curve and your competition to ensure your business is in a successful place for years to come.
As you know, the world is constantly evolving and changing, rapidly. It seems like a daily occurrence that old technologies are quickly replaced with newer, more innovative ones. Modernising your business compromises of tweaking, replacing, and rethinking key processes and technologies so they can increase the revenue of your business and reduce your outgoing costs.
Let’s take a look at five ways your company can go from ‘outdated’ to ‘leader of the pack’;
1. IT
Tech is an ever-evolving area within the business world, everyday we see new technologies being introduced, artificial intelligence (AI) is a perfect example of how the world of work can be completely flipped in a heartbeat. Obviously, as a small business you’re not expected to implement the latest AI technologies due to the initial costs associated, however, using consumer-friendly AI such as chatbots may improve your customers experience on your website.
It’s important to remember, AI isn’t the answer to everything and even if you have the most up-to-date technology it might not modernise your business as a whole. When it comes to modernising, you need to make sure your IT employees/department are closely connected to you core business objectives, and that even your non-tech driven employees are trained to become more tech-savvy.
2. Communications
Another area of any business that evolves rapidly is communication, while it can be quite challenging to stay on top of the latest trends, it’s important you remain aware of the major technologies being introduced.
Phone systems are requiring more resources to remain functional – they commonly fail, frequently encounter issues and suffer rate changes, which all contribute to driving up costs of contracts and maintenance support. You can modernise your business by moving to a VoIP solution and simply purchasing the phones, this means the above issues will not recur as it becomes the hosted provider’s responsibility to maintain and advance the phone system and service.
3. Payment processing
If your business is shop-based, you’ve definitely felt the effects of modern technologies over the past few years with more and more consumers requiring the one-tap, contactless payment method – seemingly, the days of remembering your 4-digit pin code are slowly slipping away, as such, so should the days of not accepting contactless payments. Finding a POS system that gives you increased versatility around this will prove invaluable.
4. Use the Cloud
It’s safe to say, if you are still storing information using paper files and hard drives, you’re way behind the times. You should start looking for a cloud storage system as soon as possible, not only does it make your business more eco-friendly, it’s also more likely that you will never lose data or struggle to find somewhere to store it.
You will be able to access your files from anywhere, making it possible for your staff to work remotely / more agile – another example of modernising your company. It’s important that you do your research and find the most reliable Cloud storage provider for your business.
5. Mindset
A lot of the time, many companies don’t want to change or adapt to new technologies – the ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” mentality, if you will – but the reality is, if you want your business to thrive in this ever-evolving world, you must update your way of thinking. It’s absolutely crucial to adopt an innovative mindset internally with your employees and within your company goals.
As technology continues to evolve, your business needs to constantly adapt to the surrounding business world. Although it may seem overwhelming to begin with to update your traditional ways, applying these up-to-date strategies will help your business reap more benefits in the long run. Holded works with lots of integrations to help you with the switch to a more modernised business.
