Technology has become the life-line in almost all areas of modern life, including business. We rely on it as a source of information, as an aid to communication and a useful tool for work. All in all, technology and business are so intertwined that if the power was out and the laptop and mobile batteries were low, the businesses would be lost for a while.
Inevitably, a business owner needs to think in terms of different technological advances so as not to lose an opportunity to expand and grow. Since there is a multitude of software and hardware solutions which appear daily on the market, it is sometimes difficult to assess what would be useful and what is a waste of money. So, here is a short list of investments that you might find applicable in your everyday work.
Revising payment methods
All people who regularly shop online have found themselves in a pickle at one point because of the payment methods the website supports. It often happens that people look at the picture of the product and then go straight to see the payment options so as not to waste time reading the description and checking the price if they don’t have the means to pay through the offered channels.
This is especially important if you are planning to expand your small business globally or if you are already on your way to extend your reach – countries offer different cards to their citizens so sometimes a customer would need to ask a friend from a different country to buy something for them. So, to facilitate their shopping experience, besides a Visa and Mastercard, think in terms of PayPal for global purposes, and UnionPay for China.
Improving overall data security
There is no need to discuss how paramount data and cybersecurity is and how important it is to make sure your customers’ and your business information are kept safe. It is advisable to introduce a password manager software that will keep track of everything, as well as to enable two-factor authentication to add an extra layer of security to crucial apps.
In order not to worry about your employees potentially opening phishing emails, you should install anti-malware software and also, it is vital that you educate your employees about the possible dangers and all protection tools you are currently using. Also, it is highly recommended you update all software regularly and back up all data. Another thing to keep in mind is that you need to delete unused accounts so that attackers cannot get their hands on the old credentials.
Supplementing customer service tools
What every wise small business owner knows is that without proper support and communication with customers, the chances for a business to grow are slimmer. So, you need to go the extra mile to keep your customer satisfied and to aid the communication between them and your customer support team. For instance, if you offer phone support, your small business phone system needs to include VoIP connectivity as well as accounting calls with the aid of different recording and screening systems.
And if you offer support via chat, chatbots are a useful addition: as your business is expanding, you will get more customers, which means more work. However, not many prospective customers actually take the time to read the FAQ section or go through your website, so a chatbot can serve as a gatekeeper for those who ask questions that are already plainly answered in the FAQ. This ultimately saves time to live agents and allows them to be more efficient.
Introducing HR software
A good HR software is necessary to record everything related to an employee: hiring, performance, payroll and benefits and in that way, protect both your rights and your employees’. When choosing the right software, you should consider the number of employees and how easy the software is to use since a complex system will not help but complicate matters.
What you should also be looking at is the payroll processing segment so that the payroll system could benefit from the data related to an employee which are stored there, such as the name, hours worked and the pay rate. Reliable software should be able to also keep track of time off and leave so as to be able to manage the number of active employees at all times.
Conclusion
For a business to prosper, it needs to have a flexible structure and to accept the fact that the strategy needs to be dynamic in order to keep up with all the changes related to materials, products, interests and many other segments. Most of the time this task isn’t easy and you need a team of enthusiasts around you who will be open to new opportunities but who will know how to assess what is a good move and what is just an impulsive call.
This applies to technology as well since you never know when a revolutionary improvement may appear and if you are one of the first to hop on board, you can gain a significant advantage over your competition. Always be on the lookout for practical solutions that can aid your business and allow both you and your employees to be as efficient as possible.
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