Automate processes
You can use technology to take some of those tedious and repetitive tasks and transform them through the power of automation. Setting things up to run without as much input required will help to free up your time for other purposes, or simply to create a less stressful working day.
Although there are some claims that AI could replace actual humans in your workforce, you may want to think twice before making employees redundant. These processes are still relatively new and may not always function as expected. Therefore, it is beneficial to keep your team and instead teach your employees how to securely utilise these alongside their other business operations.
Manage communications
Rather than needing to schedule in-person meetings, which may not be entirely feasible if you offer hybrid or remote working conditions, or wait for telephone calls to be returned, you could instead consider the range of communications apps on offer for business purposes.
This allows you to not only hold voice or video calls, but also instantly send messages to one another. Normally, only those within your team will be included on the app, meaning no confusion between personal and business data. Microsoft Teams can be a great app to integrate into your business, allowing you work seamlessly while still making communication more efficient.
Increase marketing within business operations
The marketing your business uses can greatly impact your business profits and how highly consumers rate you. Figuring out ways to include the newest technological advancements within your marketing campaigns can help to widen your audience. Opting to utilise mobile technologies can be great for advertising.
While telecoms can be important for chasing both hot and cold leads, you may also find it useful to implement digital campaigns via email and online advertising. This could be especially useful for those wanting to branch out their business operations to serve a wider area. Print advertising or posters in a store window may only go so far, whereas digital marketing can be accessed from across the globe.
Make payments more flexible
As the use of cheques has all but faded out, and cash is becoming less frequently used, you may need to find different ways for clients to be able to pay for your goods or services. Alongside this, you might also want to think about your own expenses as part of your business operations.
Many people now opt to make their payments online or use a smartphone to pay at a terminal in-person. Enabling these within your business can make the customer experience that much more enjoyable, leaving them satisfied with the steps of the transaction and, therefore, more likely to use your business again.
Utilising newer forms of technology doesn’t necessarily mean you need to pay out more, or put more money into your budget. You may be able to deduct certain IT-related purchases from your expenses.
Improve brand awareness
Getting people to know your brand, and what kind of business you are, can help to increase sales. As you continue trading, you may want to improve people’s perceptions of what you do, and the quality of goods or services you provide. Brand awareness can work in a two-fold manner: increasing knowledge and improving ratings.
To be able to do so, you need to ensure that people know exactly who you are when they hear your name. Being able to identify your logo may also be an indicator of good brand awareness. One of the easiest ways to build traffic for your brand can be to work on your Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO for short.
The amount of effort you put into your SEO can affect your positioning and visibility on Google. Ideally, you want your company to be on the first page. The likelihood of this may vary depending on your industry, company longevity, and competitors. Those on the first page are far more likely to get clicks and generate traffic than those buried under other results.
Likewise, social media can also be an incredibly powerful tool for brand awareness. Using the right hashtags and language could help more people to see your content. When using social media marketing, you may want to train your team to be cautious about what they click on. While many posts may be entirely innocent, social media scams do occur. Therefore, keep social media usage during the working day reserved solely for posting on the company accounts and responding to interactions.
Easily measure engagement
Being able to measure your KPIs and engagement can help you to figure out which areas of your business operations or marketing are performing well and which may benefit from a few tweaks. Looking at aspects such as page views, time on page, or even the bounce rate can help you to see the pages on your website that are creating the most traffic.
Ensuring that your business operations are as seamless and pain-free as possible can make the working day easier on your staff. Collating all data onto Microsoft Excel spreadsheets can enable your team to find data quickly and efficiently, as well as help you to simplify any meetings you have with shareholders and investors alike.
Figure out what is needed within your business operations
Sometimes, things can go wrong with your technology. While things have advanced greatly within the last few decades, errors may still occur. One of the biggest issues you may face are slow, lagging systems. These can be caused by excessive bloatware and unused applications and programs remaining on the device.
Figuring out which applications and subscriptions are required for your business operations can help you to keep your machines running smoothly, as well as cut your monthly costs.
When doing so, you may also want to consider implementing dedicated IT support to help configure these items based on your needs and device capabilities to ensure they don’t slow you down. IT support can also be a boon to the modern company, helping to rectify any errors you may face throughout the day without needing to worry about lengthy periods of downtime.
A good IT support company will also be able to assist you with setting up cloud-based storage for your business. This means that employees can access their files regardless of where they are if they have the correct login credentials. This is another great way of freeing up space on your working devices.
Support with your tech
Looking after your technology can greatly extend its lifespan, resulting in savings for your company. Whether you want help with maintaining hardware or support with your apps and operating system, having IT support in place is the answer you seek.
While technology is fantastic for making your business operations more efficient, it does have its limitations. Within this can be problems with connectivity, system issues, and even human error leading to cyber attacks and breaches. IT support helps you by putting extensive measures in place for the future as well as assisting you with any problems in the present.
By Verity Armstrong
