As a small business, using online technology isn’t just an investment that could help to improve your finances, simplify internal possesses or develop better customer management.
Making online tools a core component of your business infrastructure will not only give you a great platform to boost growth but can provide you with a safety net if you come up against any of the common challenges or turbulent times faced by growing businesses.
Although the words ‘investment’ and ‘technology’ could start bells ringing about the costs, time and effort associated with integrating a new tool or platform into your business, the beauty of modern, flexible technology is the ability to choose how, when and where to invest your money but with the freedom to easily scale back on unnecessary costs when you need to – without having to make huge changes to your business.
Whether you’re looking to invest a little, or a lot, here are some of the ways you may like to consider adopting technology to build a stable, but flexible foundation for your business.
Hot desking
If you’re not quite ready to invest in your own business premises, hot desking could be a fantastic way to bring staff together as and when you need to. Hot desking is a work space sharing model in which you only pay for the space that you’re using. These spaces are typically kitted out with fast internet access, meeting spaces and sometimes, computer devices. As long as you have access to your files, your business could be running from anywhere in the world.
Flexible working
Allowing your staff to work flexibly, whether that’s through unconventional hours, from a home office or at a shared work space, you can provide your staff with a positive work-life balance but you can also save on business premises or the associated workplace costs.
Bring Your Own Device or Work Devices
Investing in digital devices for your team will facilitate their working whether they’re based in an office or out and about. The BYOD phenomenon, otherwise known as ‘Bring Your Own Device’, is becoming popular with big and small businesses alike. Bring Your Own Device refers to the trend in which employees choose to use their personal devices in the workplace rather than, or additional to, the office equipment.
Using either personal or work devices means that staff aren’t restricted to a location to carry out their work. This can help you save on the upfront costs of a desk set-up but also means staff can work effectively even if you need to scale back on physical work space.
Cloud technology
The cloud is a champion of scalability as you don’t need to pay up-front costs for expensive, physical hardware and you only pay for what you use. There’s unlimited ways that the cloud could benefit your business but one of the key ways is through online file/data storage and sharing. Storing your information securely in the cloud will help your business facilitate the modern working practices discussed by ensuring staff are always connected. However, should workloads scale back then you just scale back on the amount of space you require.
Take your meetings online
Whatever your current financial situation, your business should look to make sensible cost reductions. Online platforms can facilitate effective, timely communications regardless of physical location. Whether you have clients based nationally or even internationally, it can be costly and time consuming to arrange meetings. Platforms such as Skype and WebEx are quick, easy ways to hold video conferences to keep up to date with your key stakeholders, clients and valuable customers. Save on wasted travel time, unnecessary expenses and delays to working.
Low-cost digital marketing
If you’re facing the challenge of attracting more customers, growing your reach and bringing in more revenue then there are plenty of low-cost (or even free!) online tools and platforms to improve your marketing activities. Instead of investing in pricey advertising campaigns or throwing your money into new marketing trends, look at using social media to connect with your audience and reach out to new markets. Alternatively, email marketing platforms could help drive repeat custom and improve your customer communications.
Reach out for help
There is no shame in looking for support. A quick online search will present you with countless blogs, videos and articles from people and businesses with their own advice and guidance to share on whatever challenge you may be facing.