Technology has improved different aspects of life, and business is one of them. When properly used in your business, technology has the potential to greatly increase your organization’s success.

In many cases, the use of technology may be the progression of the processes you have in place already. However, others may call for adjustments to optimally reap the benefits of business technology.

In some cases, using technology provides greater efficiency and versatility, making it a natural progression for processes you may already have in place in your business. In others, you may need to make some adjustments to reap the benefits of tech-friendly alternatives.

The good news is that the benefits often outweigh the short-lived challenges of the transitional process, once new systems are in place.

This article is geared at helping you see the areas you can improve with technology in your business, and some tools to better help you achieve them. Let’s get started.

• 10 Ways Technology Improves Your Business
• Tech Tools to help improve your Business Processes
• How do Technology Enhance a Business?
• How Can Technology Help Small Business?
• What Are The Positive Impact of Technology in Business?
• Ways Technology Can Boost Your Business Productivity
• What Kind of Technology Can You Use to Make Your Business Powerful?
• How Has Technology Helped Small Business Grow?
• How to Improve Technology in a Country
• Examples of Technology Changes in Business
• How Information Technology Improves Business Processes
• How to Use Technology in Business
• Lack of Technology in Business
• What Are Examples of Business Technology?
• What Are The 10 Advantages of Technology?
• What is The Main Purpose of Business Technology
• How do Businesses Use Technology Today?
• What Technological Factors Affect a Business?
• What Are Technological Issues in Business?
• What is New Technology in Business?

10 Ways Technology Improves Your Business

1. Manage Projects More Easily, Effectively, and Efficiently

Technology has enabled business owners and leaders to stay on top of their projects by tracking time and progress. With web-based project management tools like Basecamp, Manymoon, and Podio, you can efficiently collaborate with your teams and share access on documents.

Apps like Roambi can read your business data, analyze it and turn it into reports through graphs on your iPad. In Apple is an App called Keynote, which is more relative to PowerPoint regarding the presentation.

If you want to buy an Ipad, check this offer in Abunda.

Read Also: 7 Steps to Acquiring a Small Business

What is more comfortable than just sitting next to your prospect and confidently making a presentation from your PC? Or using a projector to make a presentation to a crowd?

In case you happen to be in remodeling, repair or construction business or related fields, displaying pictures of “before and after” offers a compelling proof of the value your service or product can add. The effect of conveying actual benefits of your product or services will definitely turn your prospects into serious buyers.

2. Make Use of Productivity Apps

A worker is known by their tools, and so is a businessperson. 

The good news for owners and managers is that they can make use of productivity applications availed by technology: tools that can increase business productivity at a lesser cost. All you need a mobile device and can install apps such as:

• Slack
• Trello
• Podio
• Basecamp
• Asana
• (Among others!)

Many of these apps are offered free entirely or provided free for a particular level of service, which can be synced with their desktop versions. These productivity apps will get the right things done, without much strain, and with relatively little time invested. 

3. Benefit from Web-Based Payments

Web-based payment systems help businesses thrive by sending and receiving payments online. Due to many payment options and their flexibility aspect, web-based payment has enabled many businesses to fetch new customer segments. This is because by having different web-based payment options, you will have many more customers who like using that particular payment option.

4. Make Use of Backup Software

Reports of malicious software and hackers are wrecking businesses world over. Most of the businesses that have become victims of a data breach suffer losses in customer trust and brand reputation. The results of a data breach can be costly for organizations of any size. 

As an executive or owner, stay vigilant and grab an enterprise backup software as well as recovery and continuity tools. These are tools that use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to flag suspicious files and software.

5. Measure User Engagement 

Especially for small or medium sized organizations, Google Analytics is a hot tool for measuring user engagement and loyalty. It gives you some stats that indicate how engaged and loyal your active user readership is, which you can then interpret to improve your conversion rate.

You can use it more specifically in targeting a specific audience from your competitors’ fan base.  Stealing your competitors’ customers would mean accelerating your business growth.

6. Make Use of Twitter to Gain New Customers

Twitter is undeniably one of the most powerful tools for promoting your products and services if used rightly.

7. Better Marketing Campaigns

Digital marketing tends to yield better by far results than traditional advertising methods. They have the potential of undertaking marketing campaigns that target specific audiences hence increasing conversion rate.

8. Improved Customer Service

Excellent customer service is key to your business success. Other than selling your product or service, you should think of the cumulative experience your customers get when they visit your store or website.

Technology will allow you to set up an online help desk to handle customer issues, schedule appointments or conduct surveys and questionnaires to get customer feedback.

9. Use Video Content to Engage More

Video content can be a great way to interact with potential clients. For instance, Facebook video feature comes in handy for small businesses owners who want to take their business a notch higher. Videos will increase your brand’s awareness and hence increased conversions.

10. Make Use of Virtual Assistants 

Hiring a virtual assistant can give your business smart tech solutions with a human touch. Virtual assistants are readily available on freelance sites, and they are affordable even for small businesses. They can take up heavy tasks, saving your time while growing your organization.

Tech Tools to help improve your Business Processes

Even if you have the best product or service in the world, people can’t buy it if they don’t know it exists. The rise of e-commerce and the internet has lowered barriers to entry for small businesses and startups.

You can now create and market a product on a global scale without leaving your living room. But harnessing this power requires the right tools. Below are 6 tools you need as a business to help improve your business processes.

Canva

Canva is an online design platform where you can create customized logos, newsletters, and other content for your business. The template-based program offers small business owners with little design experience a platform to easily create new content. You can drag and drop elements and upload your own images. Canva provides varying plans based on your needs, but you can start with this service for free.

Hootsuite

Developing a strong social media presence can lead to more conversions for your business. Hootsuite is a dashboard that allows small businesses to manage their social media presence across multiple platforms. You can schedule posts, track metrics, and build a social media strategy with Hootsuite. The company offers multiple plans for small businesses, ranging from $29 to $499 per month.

Appy Pie

Having a great app has become a vital part of business marketing. Appy Pie allows small businesses to build apps without any intensive coding. You can also get custom analytics on usage and build in features like push notifications. Building an app specifically for your business can allow you to directly connect with customers and monetize your business experience. Appy Pie offers plans ranging from a free option to $50 per app per month.

Promo

In today’s world of social media and endless scrolling, eye-popping videos can set your business apart. For a small business owner, it may be difficult to gather the resources and set aside time to shoot and edit video for your brand. With Promo, Slidely offers small businesses an intuitive platform to create high-quality marketing videos.

You can choose from a wide variety of video and music clips to start creating your video. Adding text and adjusting the font allows you to further customize your video experience. Promo provides a range of plans, from $49 to $359 per month.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics provides businesses with the tools to track and understand their web traffic. Analyzing data is becoming an increasingly important aspect of small business marketing. The best way to start is by analyzing and understanding basic website metrics.

This can give you a better understanding of who your audience is, where your customers are and what kind of content viewers respond to most. Google Analytics is a free service, with various reports and metrics you can use to track your business’s website.

Answer the Public

Creating a good marketing strategy means understanding what customers are thinking. Having a handle on how a customer or client thinks allows you to better market your own product or service. Answer the Public is a platform that provides search trends on a variety of topics.

It lends insight into what customers are searching for and asking online. If you’re trying to get a better understanding of some important topics in your industry, Answer the Public is a great place to start. The best part is this service is completely free.

Make Use of Backup Software

Reports of malicious software and hackers are wrecking businesses world over. Most of the businesses that have become victims of a data breach suffer losses in customer trust and brand reputation. The results of a data breach can be costly for organizations of any size. 

As an executive or owner, stay vigilant and grab an enterprise backup software as well as recovery and continuity tools. These are tools that use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to flag suspicious files and software.

Zoom

Zoom has become the default videoconference tool for the industry—and individuals who master it at work are following suit at home. Nonpaying users can get up to 100 participants on a call, though meetings can last only 40 minutes before you have to start over if you have more than one guest (though this restriction has temporarily been limited this spring).

Designed with business meetings in mind, tools like breakout rooms, private back-channel chatter, and screen sharing are all built-in. The $15/month plan gets you longer meetings, recording features, and more, with two additional plans running $20/month. Zoom has a small learning curve, but most seem to master it quickly—in part because they’ve been forced to by their bosses.

Its most popular feature seems to be that, in general, it works pretty well, with few dropouts and a high-quality video that seamlessly shifts to show whoever’s speaking. Multiple users can even share their screens simultaneously, a unique feature to Zoom.

You can use Zoom via an app or directly on the web, through web users won’t get access to Zoom’s most beloved feature: virtual backgrounds. Do mind the recent discussion about privacy and security on the platform and protect yourself against zoombombers.

QuickBooks Online

If you’re talking about the world’s best accounting tools, it’s simply impossible not to mention the one and only QuickBooks Online.

The magic of QuickBooks Online is its versatility. If you’re a small business owner who despises financial mumbo-jumbo and would much rather just get on with the fun part of being an entrepreneur, QuickBooks Online can help you do just that.

On the other hand, if you’re a professional accountant who lives and breathes balance sheets, invoice records, common size analysis, and profit and loss statements, then QuickBooks Online can still give you everything you need.

QuickBooks Online offers the classic suite of accounting tools for anyone and everyone: dashboards for your business’s financial data and records, financial reports that you can customize according to your own needs, an invoice generator, online payment receipts, payroll processing, and the ability to turn pictures of receipts into cataloged business expenses.

Plus, QuickBooks Online syncs with your bank account and business credit cards so that your business’s financial data is always up to date. And if that weren’t useful enough, you can also share your QuickBooks Online with your accountant to simplify financials during tax time.

The pricing depends on which features you want and need, but it can range from $5 a month for independent contractors to $28 per month for a robust application. 

Online project management software

With so much to accomplish, many business owners need a little help staying on track. Online project management software provides a way to efficiently organize and manage complex projects from start to finish.

The software allows project managers to manage and allocate resources, including team members, external resources, generic resources, documents, and physical assets. In addition, it provides tools for teams to communicate and ways for clients to view reports and status updates.

Overall, the services increase efficiency by centralizing requests, resource availability, issue tracking, communication, document management, and scheduling.

Technology has changed every aspect of the workplace and businesses will continue to enjoy the benefits as new inventions are introduced.

How do Technology Enhance a Business?

Technology has important effects on business operations. No matter the size of your enterprise, technology has both tangible and intangible benefits that will help you make money and produce the results your customers demand.

Technological infrastructure affects the culture, efficiency and relationships of a business. It also affects the security of confidential information and trade advantages.

Here are some current and near-future technology applications that will improve businesses – including yours.

Faster, More Comprehensive Communication

Sometimes, radical improvements in communication made possible by the internet and associated devices – such as laptops and smart phones – can become so sophisticated as to become oppressive. Nobody needs 200 business emails a day.

Nevertheless, once you organize your communication tactics and strategies around these available communication resources, things will move faster. They’ll also move more reliably, via apps that timestamp the opening of emails to clients and they’ll do so at a lower cost, once you beat back your cell phone provider’s monthly charges, that is – or you move to a lower cost provider, as rates continue to fall.

Increased Use of “The Cloud”

Recently, high-tech communication possibilities have been further enhanced by the increased use of “the cloud” as a communication resource. For example, film or music producers in different cities can simultaneously work on a single project simultaneously that’s available to both of them via the cloud.

Expert surgeons already oversee surgical operations on other continents via virtual operating theaters. Eventually, medical procedures that are entirely machine-driven can be supervised virtually from anywhere in the world, from a single physical operating theater.

New Communications Technologies

As computer processing speeds and storage capabilities continue to increase, new communication technologies will arise. Emerging virtual presence technologies will make it easier and more effective for executives, speakers, coaches and technologists of every kind to make virtual presentations anywhere around the globe, with all the advantages of physical presence but without the limitations.

Resource Management and Efficiency

These same communication technologies are already changing resource management and eventually will radically restructure how we work. Today, a single operator can deploy various military resources all over the globe. Tomorrow, a single operator will be able control and supervise fleets of unmanned transport vehicles at lower cost, with higher reliability and lower accident rates.

Similarly, experts can be virtually deployed almost instantly to solve production and other problems anywhere in the world.

Amazon’s much-touted drone program not only has regulatory and legal issues to face, but also the practical, every day problem of pets, children, and – most importantly, getting them to stay in the air long enough to fly long distances, according to a 2016 Gartner report published in The New York Times. But The Times also stated that a future of autonomous drones is much closer than a future of self-driving cars.

Labor Cost Savings

The most significant emerging technologies already changing the way we work are in automation and automated learning. Tesla’s production plant for its new Model 3 electric passenger vehicle has very few workers, and they’re largely there to observe and – when necessary – correct or modify a production process. Most of the work is done via machines that communicate directly with one another.

In recent years, one of the most promising fields for young workers has been in computer programming and coding.

In 2019, at least 25 million programmers are working globally. It’s nearly certain that in the near future, programming and coding jobs will increase, but gradually, computers will begin to program other computers or they will reprogram themselves. Futurists predict that eventually most humans will not work for a living.

Safety Advantages Through Technology

One of the more remarkable increases in worker safety during the past 50 years has been in the inherently risky business of automobile racing. In the 1950s, there were five Formula One fatalities. Although there were many more Formula One events in the 1990s, there were only two fatalities during the entire decade.

The technological innovations that drove down the fatality rate in Formula One racing made automobiles safer, generally. The advent of the driver-less automobile will surely reduce fatality rates further – computers don’t get drunk and drive, they have no interest in showing off and they exist only to concentrate on their primary task.

The increased safety of highway travel globally – beyond lowering fatality rates and making traveling safer, will also lower insurance rates and will generally reduce the cost of business-related transport.

How Can Technology Help Small Business?

Small businesses rely on technology to help them operate on a daily basis. From laptop computers with Internet capabilities to printers, online file storage and Web-based applications, technological advances impact small businesses across various industries.

Technology has the potential to affect small business in positive and adverse ways, depending on the goals a business has a in place, the products they chose to use, and how well entrepreneurs and their employees adapt to new systems.

Share and Collaborate

Small businesses work closely with their clients to provide them products and services that add value to their lifestyles. Going from an idea to a finished product or service requires small business owners and their employees to collaborate with each other and external vendors. E-mail and instant messenger tools paved the way for online sharing and collaboration.

With the ability to instantly connect, share information and get feedback, e-mail and instant messenger are beneficial technological advantages for small businesses.

Web-based project management programs such as 5pm, Basecamp and Zoho Projects offer a Web-based approach to keeping track of projects, delegating tasks, updating team members and clients, tracking time, and sharing documents in real-time. For small businesses, this means up-to-date information available in a central hub, regardless of a person’s location.

Flexible Work Environments

Technology gives small business owners and their employees the option to work in the office, from home, on the road and even from across the country. Affording small business owners the opportunity to hire talent from all over the world, technology can help businesses gain a competitive edge in the global environment.

Instant Connection With Customers

Small business owners no longer have to mail surveys to customers and wait for weeks for replies, nor do they have to call customers for feedback. Technology gives small businesses the ability to connect with their customers via e-mail, through blogs, social networks and forums.

Small business owners can take advantage of this instant connection by getting feedback from customers and applying it to their businesses immediately, if they see fit.

Online Stores

Technology allows crafters, clothing and accessories designers and painters an option to set up online stores, rather than investing in costly storefronts.

With consumers migrating to the Internet to find everything from gifts to ordering groceries, the popularity of online shopping increases with the variety of products and services. Businesses with storefronts can create online stores to expand their visibility and reach target markets beyond their neighborhoods and surrounding communities.

Employee Training

As small businesses implement new technologies into their processes, they are tasked with providing training to new and veteran employees. While new employees are likely to easily adapt to the technologies, veteran employees may resist the new technologies or experience a learning curve, which may temporarily reduce productivity.

What Are The Positive Impact of Technology in Business?

One of the greatest benefits of technology is convenience. We can now shop while sitting at home in our underwear, while driving, or anywhere else we choose.

Information is just a click away. People have instant access to everything they could possibly want to know. Businesses can reach potential customers around the globe, no matter how big or small their operation is.

Helps Businesses Be Competitive

Technology can help small businesses compete with multi-million dollar corporations without anyone realizing just how small the company is.

Everything is faster and easier to access because of technology. Anyone with an Internet connection can have tools like the best roboadvisors at their fingertips.

Education, financial advice, e-commerce tools, and security software help companies flourish and keep their customers engaged.

Technology Increases Productivity

Technology can improve productivity, whether you have one or thousands of employees.

AI (Artificial Intelligence) allows companies to look like they have an entire team working to satisfy customers. It saves on overhead costs and expands business capabilities.

Teams can interact in real time from anywhere in the world. This allows for greater flexibility, giving more people the opportunity to work remotely. In fact, 70 percent of individuals now work remotely at least once a week.

Ways Technology Can Boost Your Business Productivity

Whether you admit it or not, the way things were done in the old days just wasn’t efficient, and it cost time no entrepreneur can afford to lose. Here are eight ways technology boosts productivity in business.

Outsource To Skilled Professionals

The term outsourcing has been around for decades, but it’s only recently that it’s been possible and simple for businesses of every shape and size. After all, in the old days, you couldn’t just search the internet and check out reviews to find an accountant that suits you.

No matter the size of your company, there are some tasks your employees can’t or shouldn’t need to do themselves. These are particularly skilled jobs or non-core activities. Hiring an experienced freelancer or agency ensures this work gets done, but requires little from you or your team, thus saving time.

Work From Almost Anywhere

Before the invention of modern-day cell phones and cloud storage software, work for your business generally had to be done at the office. After all, the documents and data were kept here, and it was also where customers, clients, and employees knew to reach you.

Thankfully, these days, you do have this technology available, so you can be accessed no matter where you are in the world. This means that you can work from home, which has been shown to improve the work-life balance of employers and employees alike, enhancing productivity in both.

Collaboration In The Workplace

While cloud storage software allows you to work from home, it benefits don’t end there. It also allows employees to collaborate in the workplace by giving everyone who needs it access to important information. This collaboration is further boosted with the use of email and instant messaging by letting staff speak to one and ask questions another easily.

Without these tools, your team may find it difficult to talk to one another, which would slow down projects and inevitably lead to a less productive company overall.

Minimize Delays In Projects

With so many hats to wear each day, many entrepreneurs find it challenging to keep track of all of their projects and ensure that they’re moving at a reasonable pace.

The simple remedy to this problem is online will ultimately show you which members of staff aren’t meeting their goals. Once you know that there is a problem, you can bring it up with individuals and try to come up with a solution, thus minimizing any costly delays.

Improve Your Customer Service

Without your customers, your business would be nowhere, which is why it’s so crucial that you take proper care of them. Unfortunately, with lengthy phone calls and repetitive questions, customer service has long been the bane of entrepreneurs’ existence.

Thankfully, these days, you can create FAQ pages and chatbots to take the pressure off you and your team.

Automate Any Repetitive Processes

Every business has tedious tasks that need completing regularly. These include posting on social media pages, paying bills and invoices, responding to emails, and so much more. While these tasks certainly need completing, they don’t necessarily need to be dealt with by you or your team.

In fact, even attempting this work can lead to boredom, which results in a lack of productivity. Instead, you can now use automotive technology to handle these jobs. This makes workdays less monotonous and more enjoyable and also saves time and money.

Focused And Specialized Marketing

Old school marketing was all about paying thousands on television commercials, posting ads in the local newspaper, and handing out flyers to everyone you see hoping that they’ll find your target market and attract customers. While this works to some degree, it’s almost impossible to measure your return on investment, which can lead to wasted time and money.

Thankfully, modern marketing strategies are a lot different. With personalized marketing, you use data found online to target exactly the right people, creating a more productive and efficient process.

Prevent Damaging Cyber Attacks

With businesses counting on technology to get them through the day, it’s no surprise that, when this tech stops working, it can cause disaster, leading to a significant loss in productivity, and sometimes even a complete stop.

While there are times that you can’t prevent this, there is also a lot that you can do, especially when cybercriminals are involved. These individuals like to target small businesses, especially, which is why you need to be prepared. By investing in proper cybersecurity, you can help to keep your data and devices safe, reducing downtime and costs.

As high as the old days supposedly were, there’s no denying that today’s technology is superior and makes life and business run a lot smoother.

Without it, you’d face significant delays, downtime, and unexpected costs, all of which would damage your productivity and harm your company as a whole. If you’re yet to embrace the technological era, then now really is your time to start. You don’t need to go all-in at first, but holding out ultimately will leave you behind your competition, which could affect sales.

What Kind of Technology Can You Use to Make Your Business Powerful?

When harnessed correctly, technology has the potential to greatly increase your organization’s success. In many cases, use of technology may be the progression of the processes you have in place already. However, others may call for adjustments to optimally reap the benefits of business technology.

1. Manage Projects More Easily, Effectively, and Efficiently

Technology has enabled business owners and leaders to stay on top of their projects by tracking time and progress. With web-based project management tools like Basecamp, Manymoon, and Podio, you can efficiently collaborate with your teams and share access on documents.

Apps like Roambi can read your business data, analyze it and turn it into reports through graphs on your iPad. In Apple is an App called Keynote, which is more relative to PowerPoint regarding the presentation.

What is more comfortable than just sitting next to your prospect and confidently making a presentation from your PC? Or using a projector to make a presentation to a crowd?

In case you happen to be in remodeling, repair or construction business or related fields, displaying pictures of “before and after” offers a compelling proof of the value your service or product can add. The effect of conveying actual benefits of your product or services will definitely turn your prospects into serious buyers.

2. Make Use of Productivity Apps

A worker is known by their tools, and so is a businessperson. 

The good news for owners and managers is that they can make use of productivity applications availed by technology: tools that can increase business productivity at a lesser cost. All you need a mobile device and can install apps such as:

• Slack
• Trello
• Podio
• Basecamp
• Asana
• (Among others!)

Many of these apps are offered free entirely or provided free for a particular level of service, which can be synced with their desktop versions. These productivity apps will get the right things done, without much strain, and with relatively little time invested. 

3. Benefit from Web-Based Payments

Web-based payment systems help businesses thrive through sending and receiving payments online. Due to many payments options and their flexibility aspect, web-based payment has enabled many businesses to fetch new customer segments. This is because by having different web-based payment options, you will have many more customers who like using that particular payment option.

4. Make Use of Backup Software

Reports of malicious software and hackers are wrecking businesses world over. Most of the businesses that have become victims of a data breach suffer losses in customer trust and brand reputation. The results of a data breach can be costly for organizations of any size. 

As an executive or owner, stay vigilant and grab an enterprise backup software as well as recovery and continuity tools. These are tools that use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to flag suspicious files and software.

5. Measure User Engagement 

Especially for small or medium sized organizations, Google analytics is a hot tool for measuring user engagement and loyalty. It gives you some stats that indicate how engaged and loyal your active user readership is, which you can then interpret to improve your conversion rate.

You can use it more specifically in targeting a specific audience from your competitors’ fan base.  Stealing your competitors’ customers would mean accelerating your business growth.

How Has Technology Helped Small Business Grow?

The rise of the online realm and new technologies have also helped many small businesses to grow.

Cost-Saving Goes a Long Way 

One of the most significant changes that technology has brought for small businesses is lower operational costs. Gone are the days when budding entrepreneurs had to submit one loan application after another to banks, or turn to their friends and family for financial aid.

Today, the cost of launching a small business has lowered substantially. All you need is to set up a website, which you can also build yourself for free. You can reach the target demographic on social media, emails, etc. which is also something that requires little money, and just accept payments online while your business grows.

Thanks to advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, you can also get a logo design created with machines, not people with incredible results. 

The Game-Changing SaaS Model

For a long time, small businesses struggled to compete with the big players- the likes of Walmart, Amazon, and eBay. This was because they couldn’t afford the enterprise-grade technology that the mega corporations had. Today, the situation has changed with the wide range for SaaS products that are available. 

The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model allows small businesses to use powerful and expensive software under a subscription-based system in which they have to pay a small recurring fee. These programs require little maintenance as they are updated and configured by the developers rather than the users, allow the users to scale up and down seamlessly, and also make collaboration easy.

In fact, there are all kinds of amazing SaaS tools that small businesses can use today. These include Slack for team collaboration and business communication, Infusionsoft for online sales and marketing, and Patriot for advanced accounting and payroll management. 

Reaching the Right People Through Social Media 

Social media might not be one of the greatest products of technology but it’s certainly changed our lives in more ways than one can imagine. For instance, it’s changing how we access news as more than 50% of online users get their users on social media at least once a week.

Even our purchase decisions are often based on what our friends and other well-wishers say about different products and services on social media platforms. If you will think for a bit, you may remember that you bought a certain smartphone or apparel from a particular brand because someone you know recommended it on a social media website. 

Social media is allowing small businesses to work with influencers to get the word out and promote their products online. They are also able to make viral videos and posts to get free publicity in a short period. Of course, the formula doesn’t work every single time and it’s also difficult to get right.

However, the fact is that you don’t have to have tons of money to promote your business anymore which was the case with traditional media. Social media is practically free and you are only limited by your own efforts and creativity as far as growing a business is concerned. This holds massive value.  

How to Improve Technology in a Country

Here are seven steps to help you on your way.

1. Dedicate time to reading around

As a student and when starting out in your career, it can be hard to find time to read anything beyond what’s required by your course. But if you want to get ahead professionally, you need to make the time for it.

Stay in one night a week or maybe make it the thing you do on a Sunday morning before you go for a run. However you do it, scheduling a regular spot to start getting informed is going to make the process so much easier.

2. Identify your favourite tech-related media outlets

The great thing about all-things-tech is that there is simply so much great information available online for free. It’s the nature of the beast. From Wired, Business Insider, Financial Times technology section, to TechCrunch, The Verge, Engadget, there are so many easy ways to get informed. Don’t feel you have to read every last article. Surf around and see what attracts you most.

3. Curate your own public profile

Make sure you’ve got the obvious ones – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram – and then actively use them to post tech-related media, whether articles, videos or blogposts. Hunt down and follow people who are writing things you can relate to about tech.

Then go beyond the standard and start making yourself stand out – create a blog and write regular posts on this about all things tech (and related) that are starting to garner your interest. You’re aiming for consistency of content and style. Remember this is something you’ll want prospective employers to look at as evidence of your growing interest.

4. Use tools to increase your own efficiency

Start using Doodle to find dates for your sports team’s training sessions instead of mailing the whole team and coordinating responses. Stop ordering taxis over the phone and use an app instead. Do your banking using an app rather than in the branch.

Try linking up your social media accounts (they each have simple descriptions on how to do this online), so you only post once – not four times. This will give you a better sense of the positive power of technology and save you time.

5. Analyse what you consume

We live in the age of smartphones. Start thinking about what you use on your phone / online and why. How does it help you? What improvements were added in the recent update?  Why might these have been introduced? Is there anything you wish your favourite app could do but doesn’t? What do you think of the design? Is it clean and functional or playful and witty? How (well) does the design fit with the functionality? Keep a note of your musings in a table and refer back to it from time to time.

6. Start building your skill set

Learning at least a little bit of coding would be a fabulous thing for everyone, whether they are interested in working in tech or not. In doing this, you dispel the mystery cloaking this activity and realise it’s not too dissimilar to learning maths or another language.

Unless you’re desperate to become a coder, starting with HTML and CSS would suit you fine. Java and Ruby are good too, especially the latter as it’s so easy learn and used by loads of startups. In most cities and universities, there are plenty of clubs for aspiring developers, programmers, and designers.

Check out Meetup to find one near you. Or try an online course: check out MIT open courseware, Code Academy or Udemy. Bright Network’s Technology Academy course on Python is a great way to learn a technical skill that will impress employers. 

7. Experiment, experiment, experiment

If you set up your own blog, watch online tutorials (YouTube and Wordpress are goldmines of information) on how to make it look spanglier. Try it out yourself. If someone in the family runs a small business, offer to build them a website. Again, online tutorials are the place to start. Then, once you’ve got the website set up, try out doing some online advertising for them using Google Adwords.

Or, if you’re a member of university society, be the one to run the Facebook page, make the flyers that you post on it, create short videos on your phone to put the word out there about what you do and edit them using some free online tool  (Google really is your friend here). The more you do, the better a feel you will have for what areas of tech-related work interest and excite you.

Examples of Technology Changes in Business

Here are 11 technological advancements that have had a significant impact on how businesses operate and how business users interact with prospects and customers.

1. Business Management Applications

Cloud computing has revolutionised business management. Simply put, cloud computing is computing based on the internet. In the past, businesses would run applications or programs from software downloaded on a physical computer or server in their building; cloud computing allows businesses to access the same kinds of applications through the internet.

It effectively enables computing resources to be accessed and shared as virtual resources in a secure and scalable manner. It is flexible, secure, cost effective and provides instant access to business management application anywhere, at any time and on any device.

2. Email and Office Applications

For many businesses, cloud hosted email services have eliminated the need for an in-house email server, and even for a desktop email client. Not only does this improve efficiency and security, it’s also a very cost effective email management solution.

3. Integration Of Applications

Due to robust APIs and the absence of corporate firewalls, integration among cloud-based applications can be just a few clicks away. This enables:
Easy flow of information between software applications within or outside your company

• Consolidates your data collection efforts and eliminates the redundancy of separate data collection and storage
• Creates a single point of access to information
• Encourages collaboration between employees
• Streamlines processes that involve multiple software applications

4. Customer Self-Service

The transition from “live human” customer service to comprehensive and automated self-service has been a bumpy road. For years, online self-service left a lot to be desired. However, between dedicated support applications and social customer service offerings, customers can get most of their questions and concerns addressed quickly online.

5. Customer Feedback

Feedback applications have allowed software developers to enhance the end user experience based not only on what they think customers need, but also on what customers say they want. Over time, these applications have also added customer self-service functionality.

6. Web Conferencing

The rapid growth in usage of web conferencing applications has provided a greater number of salespeople and customer support representatives with an easy way to visually communicate with prospects and customers.

7. Mobile Apps

Mobile apps for business users have proliferated. Now, business users can use mobile apps to access a CRM system, view or update shared documents, make and receive phone calls via their organization’s IP phone system, participate in web conferences and more.

8. Content Management Systems

Now that companies can build entire corporate websites on platforms such as WordPress, gone are the days of static websites that require someone fluent in HTML, CSS and JavaScript to create and update.

Business of all sizes can easily modify most content without having to hire a web developer. However, there’s still a place for specialists, as these platforms can be extended and optimised in a variety of other ways that change and develop all the time.

9. Video Audio Hosting

Business use of Internet video has grown by leaps and bounds in the last 15 years. Many companies are making YouTube, Vimeo and Wistia an essential part of their marketing and training strategies.

10. Other Social Networks

While not all companies benefit to a measurable degree by having a presence on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, many companies do benefit. For certain types of companies, customer and audience engagement on these platforms is critical.

11. E-commerce

It’s now easier than ever for businesses to set up shop online. With a plethora of open source E-commerce platforms available, as well as reputable and secure paid services, there is no shortage of options for businesses to sell online.

How Information Technology Improves Business Processes

Technology has had a major impact in the modern workplace, revolutionising the way businesses conduct their daily activities.

Whatever industry you are operating in, technology helps your customers access all the information they need to successfully interact with your company. It can also help staff perform their jobs more efficiently.

Increase your productivity

Technology allows businesses to speed up production processes. You can analyse how your staff are spending their time and introduce processes to make your systems more efficient.

Task management tools allow you to stay on top of daily responsibilities so you don’t miss anything.

Email management processes allow you to stay on top of your inbox and ensures you are answering every message, perhaps even allowing you the time to visit Casino Tropicana during your lunchbreak.

Improve flexibility

Communicating with your co-workers has been transformed over the last 20 years, with numerous technological advancements making the ability to work in other places possible.

You can now connect with your colleagues at any given time from any location, improving your company’s flexibility to deal with queries quickly and efficiently. This improves teamwork across the whole business.

Better customer service

A business can’t survive without customers, so using technology to improve their dealings with your company can pay big dividends.

Interactive websites, online chat support services and 24/7 customer service via social media can set you apart from the competition and help increase your profits.

Enhance your marketing

Companies who market themselves properly reap the rewards in the long run. Technology has created software that allows businesses to formulate a marketing plan – one that can be updated and shared with your team.

Technology allows you to build eye-catching websites, while social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are great ways to promote your business.

Email marketing can also be effective, allowing you to reach out directly to your customers with news, updates and special offers.

Technology keeps businesses safe

Manual record keeping caused many businesses problems due to the way records were maintained and stored.

Modern technology allows companies to keep records safe and implement systems that can only be accessed internally by the correct people.

Encrypted passwords offer increased levels of security, making it difficult for computer hackers to access data and preventing private information from being leaked.

Technology has changed every aspect of the workplace and businesses will continue to enjoy the benefits as new inventions are introduced.

How to Use Technology in Business

Here are some areas to explore when you’re ready to ramp up your use of technology in your business.

Productivity

There are a wide range of productivity tools that can increase your efficiency as a business, meaning that you get more done and hopefully achieve higher revenues as a result.

• Time tracking software is an excellent tool for mapping out where time is spent and by whom, helping you spot where time is being wasted and identify opportunities for more efficient use of time. Such analysis, when properly utilized, is great for accountability, process improvement, and productivity.
• Digital dictation can help you streamline your work processes, particularly if your business includes a lot of time-consuming transcription work.
• Use project management and task management tools to stay on top of your daily business responsibilities.
• Create a digital filing system to make it easier to sort, save, share, and find documents.
• Develop an efficient email management process that makes it easier to stay on top of the flow of messages.

Financial

Tools that can manage your company’s financials can help you spot wasteful spending and increase your bottom line.

• Use an online invoicing service to reduce the costs of collecting payment from customers.
• Use online budget tracking to keep on top of—and reduce—your expenses.
• File your taxes more efficiently online.
• Create a new income stream by selling your products online.
• Use a comprehensive accounting software to streamline your business finances.
• Share digital files with your bookkeeper or accountant to improve your ongoing bookkeeping processes.
• Explore open source applications to replace some of the more costly “name brand” alternatives

Marketing

Software can help you market your business better by streamlining workflows and increasing collaboration between different marketing channels.

• Use software to create a marketing plan that you can edit, update and share with your team.
• Use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube, etc. to promote your business, products, and services.
• Start a blog related to your business and target audience.
• Collect email addresses through an opt-in form and start utilizing the power of email marketing.
• Use video marketing.
• Promote your business with a website and/or online advertising.

Collaboration and Learning

Technology today helps to coordinate teams and train them to increase their productivity.

• Conduct teleconference calls to make sure team members in different locations are on the same page.
• Webinars or web conferences are great for keeping everyone in the loop with travel-free face-to-face time.
• Expand your knowledge and empower your team with online business training.
• Share files and data on the cloud.
• Set up an Intranet for local file sharing.
• Communicate quickly and clearly with your team through team messaging.

Customer Service

Software tools can also help improve your relationship with your customers.

• Use social media to conduct customer service.
• Set up an online help desk or ticket system to handle customer issues.
• Allow clients to schedule appointments online at their convenience.
• Use online surveys and questionnaires to get customer feedback.

Mobile Working and Telecommuting

Software makes it easier for people to work from home, saving money on office space and utilities.

• Create a mobile office that allows you to work productively from anywhere.
• Try a remote desktop application to access files on your office computer.
• Go paperless to save money on supplies and storage in your office.
• Get a virtual phone number and electronic fax line that you can take anywhere.
• Use your smartphone and select apps that sync with the cloud to stay connected when you’re on the go.

Lack of Technology in Business

Information technology is critical to operations for most companies and has the power to catapult growth when utilized effectively. Conversely, if things aren’t going well with IT, powerful business tools can quickly become frustrating and expensive roadblocks to achieving business objectives.

Through extensive conversations with many executives about their IT situations, some common themes have emerged. Here are seven most common IT problems that small businesses face if they lack technology.

1. Integration Issues

As new technologies are released, sometimes they don’t play nice with older systems or applications. This can result in double entry of data, having to look in multiple places for information, and other inefficiencies. Thorough planning before implementation can minimize these issues.

2. Backup and Disaster Recovery Challenges

If you’ve ever accidentally deleted a file, experienced a power outage, had a server crash, or any other “data disaster,” then you know how important having a reliable backup and disaster recovery plan can be (or would have been!) Having the right backup solution and disaster recovery procedures in place for when these events inevitably occur are critical to eliminating the downtime and expenses that accompany them.

3. Root Causes Aren’t Uncovered or Addressed

When IT departments or providers have a process for tracking issues, they’re able to analyze the data and identify trends. When they dig into the trends, sometimes they find that an issue is a symptom of a greater problem. Solving the root cause would make the problem go away for good and keep employees productive instead of on the phone with IT support.

4. Security Risks

Hackers are becoming more sophisticated and small businesses are being targeted now more than ever before. Think of all of your trade secrets, confidential communication, customer information, and HR records that are stored on your company’s computers.

What would be the impact if this data fell into the wrong hands? There is a cost-effective suite of IT security procedures and solutions that are worth considering. These pay dividends in the long run – an incident isn’t worth the headache.

5. Lack of Strategic IT Planning

Many times, IT and business leaders are disconnected. The leaders see the bigger picture, but sometimes they don’t work with IT to make sure they can accomplish their goals without technology getting in the way.

How would the organization be different if the business and technology plans were aligned and the organization could scale without constraint? For example, if you plan to grow significantly in the next three years and IT was in the loop, the infrastructure implemented for current challenges may be different so it can accommodate the long-term growth.

6. Waiting Until Something Breaks

Systems need regular maintenance to ensure they run properly and securely. With the right IT processes, problems may be predicted, planned for, and resolved before they become urgent. As Benjamin Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Isn’t it better to get in front of issues and resolve them before they turn into expensive and time-consuming emergencies?

7. Frustrated Users (Employees)

Interacting with technology is a huge part of your employees’ day. Using slow, outdated systems with frequent problems makes it much more difficult for them to be happy and productive, ultimately increasing their output.

How would it impact your business if you enabled your employees to get just 5 percent more accomplished every day, simply by keeping your technology up to date?

What Are Examples of Business Technology?

Here is a comprehensible list of the the most common types of business technology to help you easily make a transition from the traditional practices to modern-day techniques:

Computers

Computers are used across multiple businesses.  They´re equipped with software that enables them to perform all sorts of tasks such as analyzing financial information, sending and receiving emails and designing sales presentations. The computer is made as a desktop apparatus or a mobile laptop for either office or traveling purposes.

PCs (Personal Computers) with Microsoft Windows is the most frequently used. Macintosh computers with Apple operating system are also used but mostly among professionals. Computers are vital because they allow businesses to manage their daily activities in a  more productive and efficient way.

Software

Computers use different kinds of programs and operating information, known as software, to do specific tasks. Businesses utilize productivity tools such as Microsoft Word, a word processing package, and Microsoft Excel, a financial spreadsheet system.

Microsoft PowerPoint and Apple Keynote are also used to easily and quickly prepare professional-looking sales presentations. Businesses use certain software that is suitable to their needs.

Networking

Networking is used to interact with groups of people to share information and documents, to store information and to communicate using email. It also permits computers to share a printer or a storage device.

A network can either be restricted to computers within an office location or connected among numerous offices. Networking is essential to businesses because it provides a means to build relationships with others within their related fields in order to find new customers and partnerships, and to grow.

Telephone Communication

Communication is the key to establishing business relationships. For this reason, businesses use a form of telephone system to communicate with customers and organizations. This provides a fast, efficient and one-on-one personal connection with others.

Having great customer service with clients and effective communication with your staff will ultimately help your business build a successful reputation and grow. There are now business telephone systems that come with a variety of features to fulfill the needs of a company.

Voip, Voice Over Internet Protocol, has become extremely popular that allows users to make phone calls using the Internet instead of the traditional analog phone system.

Accounting System

Accounting systems are software that enables businesses to manage their expenses and revenue. Quickbooks is most often used in small businesses. This is easy to set up and maintain. On the other hand, bigger companies use SAP Business One or Sage Accpac, which allow more customization and integration with other systems.

Choosing the right accounting system depends on the size and needs of your business. It is recommended to consult your accountant to explore your options before making your decision.

Inventory Control System

An inventory control system is used to handle all inventory of a business. It precisely keeps track of items including how much is in stock, updating the system when new inventory arrives as well as when it is sold and to keep accurate records.

Companies require an adequate and organized system to manage its inventory in order to maintain the right balance of items in their warehouse, to understand what they have and to review their finances.

What Are The 10 Advantages of Technology?

Here are some advantages of technology on our lives and businesses.

1. Ease of Access to Information. The World Wide Web, abbreviated as www has made the world a social village.
2. Saves Time.
3. Ease of Mobility.
4. Better Communication Means.
5. Cost Efficiency.
6. Innovation In Many Fields.
7. Improved Banking.
8. Better Learning Techniques.
9. One can even work without going to the office
10. The work is more accurate and persistence

What is The Main Purpose of Business Technology

Technology has become a crucial and indispensable part of almost every kind of business. Without the role of technology in business, many businesses simply could not survive. Just imagine a multinational organization or a small business enterprise trying to operate without the use of a telephone or computer — or even the Internet.

Whatever form business technology takes — from video conferencing to the virtual sale of a new car or house or a more secure method for online banking and shopping — the role of technology in business continues to change the way we live and work.

Technology in business allows organizations to improve both the performance and overall effectiveness of products, systems and services, which, in turn, enables businesses to expand quickly and efficiently. Technology has a wide range of potential effects on management, as well as various ways it can impact the operations, productivity, profitability and sustainability of an organization.

Modern technology offers numerous tools and applications — such as electronic email and live chat systems — that help managers effectively communicate with staff and oversee projects. Business technology not only improves communication in the workplace but also with clients. Companies use technology systems to improve the way they design and manage customer relationships.

Technology such as electronic files speeds up the workflow process and can save space, paper and printing costs. Business technology enhances accounting procedures and recording of financial documents and improves inventory management. Technology in the workplace also improves the efficiency of recruiting, screening and hiring potential candidates.

Another importance of the role of technology in business is to provide security to a business. Major advancements in electronic security systems and biometric alarm systems are helping keep businesses safe from hackers and thieves.

How do Businesses Use Technology Today?

1. The Way We Communicate + Share Information

Communication and the sharing of information are critical for every business. Today’s environment offers more ways than ever, and the technology available makes it faster, easier, and more efficient. With applications like Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, social media platforms, chatbots, and more being leveraged daily, there are pros and cons for all of us.

Sales enablement provides the ability to track buyer-seller conversations and receive analytics based on user behaviors. Deeper intelligence makes it easy to obtain customer information and use it to enhance the customer experience.

Communication is effective when technology digs into customer information to help us create personalized messaging. Automated communications using a variety of channels help businesses boost marketing productivity and reach customers, as well. But we need to be mindful that, taken too far, we could lose the ability to build customer relationships—and lose the human touch in our brands.

2. Mobile-First Business Environments

Mobile-First is here to stay. Smart devices or tablets with the right software allow for remote management of every aspect of your business. Everything from your sales enablement, content marketing, and customer relations through back-end processes like shipping and invoicing are all at the click of a button.

But mobile isn’t just for you—it’s also for your consumers. With the rise of Generation Y (Millennials), more people are using mobile devices to buy, sell, shop, find local businesses, and share their retail experiences with friends, acquaintances, prospects, and Instagram strangers every day. 

This new paradigm has rewritten the book on marketing to prospects. Technology has also increased the ease with which we can all stay in touch.

Whether it’s having your co-workers and employees available via text/video chat at a moment’s notice or being able to send targeted promotional email blasts to prequalified customers when they’re shopping at nearby businesses, the rise of mobile technology has blended almost seamlessly with communication software to create a hyper-real web of real-time information.

3. Enablement of Remote Working

Although remote work has grown steadily over the past 15 years, Covid-19 forced companies not already promoting a remote work environment to make the transition more quickly than expected. And it’s likely a good thing that is here to stay:

Companies had to pivot quickly to ensure their teams had access to the right technology and infrastructure to support remote log-ins, the bandwidth to handle video conferencing, and project management tools so that teams could continue to work on projects and update status together. Instead of managing by hours spent in the office, leads had to shift to measuring employee output.

There’ve been a lot of benefits to this new normal. Not only is it easier to attract and retain talent, but it’s also increased productivity. One interesting two-year Stanford study showed an incredible productivity boost among remote workers equivalent to a full day’s work each week! And there’s more; it’s saved high costs in real estate, cut back on carbon emissions, and makes companies more agile and scalable.

4. Use of AI

AI is reshaping the world in business and consumer markets and is a mainstream of daily living. This application of technology has changed business processes in nearly every industry and has become an imperative strategy for those wanting to maintain a competitive edge.

There are many things AI can do, from machine learning (massive amounts of data are processed quickly and put into digestible context for people) to security, CRM, and even the financial and real estate sectors. In the sales enablement space, AI is used to track buyers and predict their intent to purchase by looking at their search patterns, what they view and open, and more.

Some worry that AI could eventually force joblessness, but the general thinking is there will be a need for job creation and new roles emerging to facilitate the transition to this new environment.

For example, as AI replaces long-standing workflows, people’s need to integrate them will be a necessity. AI is coming along at lightning speed, and although the effect is unknown at this point, it will likely have a significant impact on the economy.

5. Decreasing Cost/Increasing Functionality

Two things have come together to create a “buyer’s market” when it comes to software solutions for your business. First, the hardware and software necessary to develop these software solutions have become increasingly easy to use and afford. Secondly, the number of tech-savvy and entrepreneurial minds who can exploit such crumbling barriers has multiplied exponentially.

A back-end inventory system that once took a multi-million-dollar company a year to create in the not-too-distant past takes a couple of weeks for a few recent college graduates to put together. These solutions are offered at affordable rates and are often simple enough to use that businesses don’t need to hire dedicated employees or sign long-term service contracts to make use of them.

6. Buyer Enablement

With buyers spending the first 60+% of their buying journey on their own with a magnitude of content and stakeholders and decision-makers multiplied in different business groups, buying in today’s world has become complicated. The newer approach of buyer enablement, if done correctly, allows the buyer to be a champion of the product inside the organization.

This requires the seller to partner alongside the buyer to help them determine the ultimate business problem that needs solving and to offer up the most relevant information at precisely the right time. If sellers keep their buyers’ needs as their top priority throughout the buying journey and position themselves as a trusted advisor, they are nailing buyer enablement.

7. Increased Collaboration

The inability to chat in the break room, walk down the hall to a co-worker’s office, or even gather together in a meeting room in front of a whiteboard has drastically increased the need for collaboration. A McKinsey Global Institutes Report found that over 60% of work time is spent collaborating, gathering information, or responding to emails.

With this in mind, there is no shortage of collaboration tools that companies have glommed on to like Google Drive/Docs, Slack, Microsoft SharePoint, and OneDrive, Monday.com, and many, many more.

These simplify how we can work together for team discussions, file sharing, project collaboration, tasks, and storage. Alignment of people and goals is the primary responsibility for these tools, and they are here to help provide real-time insight into projects and help us become more efficient.

8. Cloud Computing + Digital Transformation

The rate of change is accelerating faster than ever before. Digital Transformation “drives foundational change in how an organization operates, optimizes internal resources, and delivers value to customers. Cloud technologies provide the foundation for becoming more agile, collaborative and customer-focused”.

Cloud computing allows businesses to move some of their operations to third-party servers accessible via Internet connectivity. This allows for variable data packages and rapid (on-demand) expansion and mobility without the fear of downtime, crashes, or permanently lost data.

Companies adopting the cloud can innovate quickly, scale efficiently and even bring new market capabilities more quickly. This has allowed small to medium-sized businesses access to resources that would have been cost-prohibitive for them in the past and evened the playing field when competing against corporations with far more funding.

What Technological Factors Affect a Business?

It might be unclear how technological factors can directly affect business, unless you take a step back and look at all of the technology that’s used in day-to-day life.

Think about the machines which are used to print on the t-shirts you buy, the computer servers which are used to keep up the website(s) you own, or the fuel used to power the car(s) you drive. Technology hugely dictates the way many things are done, in business or otherwise.

General examples of Technological Factors affecting business include:

• The existence of 3D technology
• Computer calculation speed/power
• The ability of computers to create truly ‘random’ numbers
• Engine efficiency
• Internet connectivity
• Wireless charging
• Automation
• Security in cryptography

Automation — The automation of many unskilled tasks can allow companies to replace human production lines with entirely machine ones. This can reduce costs for manufacturers, distributors, supermarkets, and many other different businesses. On the flip side, the gradual increase in job automation might not be such a great thing for job search firms.

Internet connectivity —  It’s undoubtable that in recent years global internet connectivity has been on the rise. This presents an even larger market for many companies who use the internet to connect with their customers.

On the flip side though, a global rise in internet connectivity might mean less interest in traditional communication means, which is a negative consequence for some — telephone service providers will have to change their offerings to stay relevant, while paper-and-ink printing companies might receive less business.

What Are Technological Issues in Business?

Let’s take a look at seven of the current technology issues that hound most business:

1. Rising Security Threats

This is one of the most common and potentially most costly among IT issues, both small and large-scale businesses encounter. Security threats come in many forms. Hackers use malware, phishing, and all sorts of tactics to breach companies’ IT systems.

These cyber-attacks are serious that they cost businesses an average of $200,000. Sometimes, smaller companies cannot absorb the impact, which leads to their untimely closure.

Furthermore, hackers continuously come up with new tricks. With these evolving risks, you must counter them with evolving solutions. Investing in managed security solutions is an excellent strategy to consider. This also covers all the patches, upgrades, and troubleshooting requirements of your business.

2. Backup Issues

Another common problem involves data backup. Backup issues happen in different ways. You may one day open your computer and no longer find your files.

An overload in your routers may cause such an instance.

Sometimes, you may accidentally delete important files. But since you don’t have an efficient data backup strategy, you may not have any copies of the data you just removed.

In more severe cases, hackers may breach your security systems. They may use ransomware to steal your data and hold it in exchange for money. They can even steal the private information of your clients.

This can translate to massive losses for your company.

Hence, any business must have an excellent data backup plan to protect confidential data.

3. Technology Costs

Like any other business, your monthly bills will soon pile up toward the end of the month. These involve your utilities, as well as payments for suppliers. The same thing goes for your billing and invoicing requirements.

Furthermore, arranging these things involves a lot of paperwork. And the tasks can also be repetitive. As a result, your employees lose a lot of time, which they can channel toward other tasks.

The more time you lose, the more your productivity reduces. In turn, you will lose more money at the end of the day.

But through technology expense optimization, you can cut down expenses. You will also increase your efficiency and productivity. With such a system in place, you can cut down your paperwork.

You can manage your bills and invoice much better. You will also reduce mistakes and inaccuracies.

4. Compliance with Regulations

If you’re from the healthcare or retail sector, there are certain laws and regulations that you need to comply with. To comply with these regulations, you need to have the right solutions in place.

For example, hospitals must comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). You also need to improve your system’s uptime and to protect your connection from outages.

As for the retail industry, you need to ensure PCI DSS Compliance. By investing in the right IT solutions, you can simplify the analysis, remediation, and validation of compliance.

5. Hardware and Software Problems

Businesses will also encounter technology problems with their software and hardware. It can be a malfunctioning PC or software that fails to do its job properly.

The reality that you need to understand and embrace is that computers and software applications do break-in time. It is not a matter of “if” they will break down but rather, “when” they will falter.

You’ll also have to deal with expired software licenses, malware causing malfunctions, and cases of overheating breaking down hard drives, motherboards, or other physical components.

The solution is to standardize your office hardware components. The same thing goes for your software applications.

6. Inadequate Power Protection

Sometimes, a surge or spike in electricity can damage your office’s electronic equipment. Moreover, these surges may lead to an outage that translates to the loss of critical data.

You may need to invest in emergency auxiliary power units. These provide enough power to safely save data and shut down your computers. They don’t last long, but they’re good enough in case of a power outage.

Apart from backing-up your data, you also need to invest in backup battery devices. Invest in devices that come with surge repression. Also, include their regular check-ups in the maintenance duties of your IT personnel.

7. Cloud Confusion

Last but not least, businesses often encounter confusion with the cloud. And if we’re going to identify a common pain point, it is the multi-cloud security.

When investing in cloud-based services, you need to inquire about the level of security across several platforms. This is because a multi-cloud approach involves managing different security systems.

Unfortunately, these systems are often inconsistent or incompatible.

Also, there is confusion when it comes to cloud usage. Some providers do not offer transparency when it comes to usage and invoicing. Staying on top of your cloud usage allows you to save time and resources.

Moreover, the cloud isn’t a one-size-fits-all thing. Hence, you need to find a cloud model that comes with custom solutions. You want to invest in cloud-based services that effectively meet your requirements.

What is New Technology in Business?

1. Credit Card Reader App

Now, you can get an app that serves as a credit card reader, saving time when you don’t need to physically invoice or use a real register. Gone are the days when you need to carry money around or keep physical binders of transactions or invoices. You can also send digital receipts to customers.

Also, it can help you track inventory, check your sales history, and give out digital discount coupons to customers. This app can simplify things immensely, making your processes and procedures much easier to handle.

2. Timesheet Systems

Timesheet application software has become a saving grace for a lot of companies today. It’s crucial for understanding the different reports coming in about everything related to your employees. When you make use of these templates, you will be able to track everything and know when it happened.

Whether you want to know an employee’s working hours, when they clocked in and out, their accurate payroll, personal requests, staff on leaves of absence, approvals by the supervising staff, receipts, mileage expenses, or other useful information given, you’ll get them all with the most accurate and correct time frame.

3. Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

This type of system program automates everything and has been a vital addition for many companies since its conception, as well as a key to some of their successes. RPA has the AI capabilities to handle tasks like record search, analyzing, calculations, query writing, transactions, setups, and many more. In every company.

There are many tasks that can be extremely repetitive and redundant over time, and these new technologies can help complete them all quickly and efficiently, giving your employees a chance to focus on other important matters and become more productive.

4. Cloud-based Solutions

This is a shared computing infrastructure that helps staff members hand in and submit important documentation. Employees have the opportunity to add in time cards, expense reports, requests for information (RFIs), work records, and other important documentation.

This can save you and your business a tremendous amount of time every year, automating all data entry and organizing important files accordingly without the hassle of going through physical paperwork. Everything can be stored on a secure network or within a log management solution, and all of it is accessible with a working internet connection or Wi-Fi.

5. Finance and Accounting App

Another app that can prove useful to your business are finance and accounting apps. They help with employee payrolls, company taxes, employee onboarding forms, and much more. If you want to send your employees digital pay stubs via email, you can do so with these handy applications.

Filing tax forms and making automatic deductions for all staff benefits can be done with ease, and it can show you the monthly earnings and paychecks of every single staff member and when they will get it. It makes some of the annoying paperwork processes a lot easier to see and manage.

6. Rapid Prototyping

This is a very helpful type of technology that can test different products in the physical and digital trial stages. It has five major types for prototyping; 3D printing, Stereolithography, additive manufacturing, selective laser sintering, and software rapid application development.

These new technologies can help you save a lot of money and time when it comes to the product’s final phase; you have opportunities to modify and change anything wrong with the result before the real one is even made.

So, you’ve basically saved a lot of money and helped make the product look and operate better. Also, you have ways to show your investors or business executives how the product would look like and how it would operate, allowing them to give you feedback on how to improve things.

7. Communication App

Ever had one of those days where phone connections are just terrible? With a communication app, this doesn’t have to be a problem anymore. It has a chat display with different upload options, and a call button to aid in more efficient communication. Also, it has a very useful feature where you can search for certain posts or uploads.

Read Also: How to Start a Consulting Business

Say goodbye to skimming through different emails to find what you want. You can have different groups depending on how many departments or projects your company is working on at the time. It’s also very decently designed and user-friendly.

To make your communication even more effective and professional you can pair it with a noise cancelling software for pc to make sure that all the distracting background noises and echo stay out of your online communication. You can pair it with any communication app and use it for bi-directional noise removal that works both on your side and on the other speaking party’s side.

Conclusion

We live in a time where there are many ways to use technology for a small business. From boosting productivity to managing financials, and from providing better customer service to enjoying seamless collaboration, there are so many paths a forward-thinking entrepreneur can pursue to take their business to the next level.

Needless to say, as long as business-focused individuals are willing to learn, they have no dearth of opportunities to accomplish their goals.