With technology advancing by leaps and bounds, it can be difficult to tell which ones to use in your new business and which ones to avoid. Investing in the right technology can streamline processes, increase productivity and bring in more sales while buying the wrong stuff is just a waste of time and money. There are five areas you want to keep your eye on for the best new business tech, cloud, wireless, the Internet of Things, automation and customer interactions.
Cloud and Cloud-Based Solutions
Cloud technology helps make your data more secure while allowing you and your employees access from almost anywhere. Cloud-based solutions can do everything from providing you insightful business metrics to allow customers to track packages and even let you know if an alarm in your building has been set off. Whether you are sitting in your office at your computer, or on your way to visit a client, you can check company and customer metrics, answer employee questions and track project progress on the cloud.
Wireless Conferencing
Wireless conferencing can save you and your clients millions in travel costs because you can securely and effectively have team meetings from nearly anywhere. This tech, along with cloud-based solutions, has virtually eliminated the need for large office buildings with high overhead and given employers the flexibility to offer remote work and telecommuting for virtually all employees. Wireless conference rooms can be set up to share files to a common screen, print paperwork for a physical file copy and pull in personnel from around the world whose expertise is suddenly needed. Companies, large and small, without this technology are seeing significant losses when employees cannot commute to work, when flights are missed or cancelled and when timely decisions can mean closing a lucrative deal.
Internet of Things and Wearable Tech
The Internet of Things refers to a system of devices which can send and receive data without the need of human to computer or computer to computer interaction. When shipping packages are tracked through scanned barcodes through a warehouse or along truck routes, they are using IOT technology. You can combine this with wearable tech to track unauthorized area access, to quickly determine where your packages are and to even update your point-of-sale system and inventory simultaneously. There is no telling where wearable tech and the IOT will develop in the future, but investing in what it can do now is the first step to keeping up with it.
Automation and Integrated Software
The right software solutions packages for your new business are those which offer automation and integrated systems. The best example of this is a POS system which updates inventory tracking software and accounting spreadsheets as a sale is processed. These types of software packages can take some of the repetitive and tedious tasks off the shoulders of you and your employees, freeing time to focus on core competencies. You can even integrate a customer portal with these other tools so your clients can see the progress of their projects, make new orders and chat with customer service.
Customer Interfaces
Chatbots can get a bad reputation from their use on social media, but when effectively employed on your website, they can answer questions more quickly than a live respondent. This can save customers the time and hassle of calling in with a question and even occupy them while in a chat queue by gathering important information about their questions. Other customer interfaces you should embrace include social media and instant messaging apps which make for easier and more fluid interactions with your clients when they need help.
Keeping up with developing technology can save you from having to play catch-up later. These new technologies can help you communicate better with your customers and employees, streamline your inventory processes and even automate mundane tasks to give you more time to focus on other aspects of your job.
