Want to know why technology is important to your business? Read on to find out and to learn how you can save money investing in technology for your business.
Do Your Customers Know Your Business Exist?
You may know that your business exists, but do your customers? If you don’t invest in simple technology like a website, probably not.
You may think that everyone has a website, but that’s not the case. About 36% of small businesses still don’t have a website.
“Everyone knows me, I don’t need a website!”
If that sounds familiar to you, listen up. Over 87% of shoppers will do product research online before they make a buying decision.
Without a website, you’re missing the vast majority of shoppers and potential customers. You’re really ripping yourself off by not investing in the most basic marketing tools – a website.
Business Happens Fast
It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, you need to get things done faster than ever before.
Take real estate, for example. In some markets that are really hot markets, you can’t afford to sit around and go back to your office to write up an offer.
Technology allows you to get an offer in before other agents, which can put your clients in a prime position to secure their dream home.
That’s just one example in one industry. It doesn’t matter what you do, you can use technology to get things done faster. That will make your employees and your customers much, much happier.
You’re More Organized
Let’s look at your books. Do you know offhand if you’re profitable? Maybe you keep your receipts in a shoebox for your accountant and you keep your expenses and income in a ledger.
That will take a while to figure out if you're profitable. You’re also liable to forget to make important payments to vendors. That can result in late fees and a bad relationship with your vendors.
You can invest in an accounting program that sits in the cloud. It’s web-based, so if you have a secure online connection, you can access your financial data from anywhere. You can automate your payments, process payroll, and easily create reports that will tell you how your business is doing.
Make Better Decisions
With technology at your disposal, you can make more informed decisions about the direction of your business.
For example, with a customer relationship management system (CRM), you can tell how many leads you have and how many of them are customers.
You can also tell when your customers are buying more, when they’re buying less, and how the relationship is managed. You can make decisions about your sales team if you find that they’re not closing many leads.
What’s great about a CRM is that you know what is happening with a customer. For example, they may have had a conversation with the sales team after they saw a marketing campaign. The sales team notes that so if another department interacts with your customer, they can see the notes in real time.
That leads to a better way to handle your customers.
Don’t Be Stuck in the Past
Do you remember when businesses did everything on paper and advertised in the yellow pages? Maybe you still do that. Do you know the reason why yellow pages don’t really exist anymore?
For two reasons. The first is that the game changed. People moved online fast and you saw that with younger people, while their parents still looked at the yellow pages. Now, the vast majority of people will turn to search engines instead of picking up a big book.
The second reason is that the yellow pages publishers didn’t adapt fast enough. They tried to come out with online products but they were too expensive and they were bad products. Eventually, they got left behind.
Why is technology important to your business? There’s a lot to learn from the yellow pages. Perhaps the biggest lesson is that you’re likely to get left behind if you don’t adapt.
How to Get Technology for Less
As a business owner, your job is to ensure that you’re profitable. You also want to make sure that your business is ready to catch up to everyone else.
You may not have the budget to invest heavily in technology right now, but over time, you can add things to your arsenal to make your business run more efficiently.
Here’s how you can start to make your technology investments last a long time without breaking the bank.
Know What You Need
If you’re investing in technology for your business, you’ll want to sit down with your employees and decide what you need for your business. Make a list of everything you can possibly think of.
Prioritize Your Needs
The first thing you’re going to need is a network. Depending on the size of your business, you may have to contact data cabling contractors to design your network.
After you have your network installed, then you’re going to have to prioritize your needs from the most important on down. This will help you make strategic decisions about your technology investments.
Make Smart Decisions
Finally, you can make some very smart decisions about the technology you invest in. You can get technology used if you need to invest in computers and networking equipment. This will lessen the financial burden.
If you’re investing in software programs, you’ll find that a lot offer monthly plans. That’s way better than having to invest in hundreds of dollars’ worth of software, only to do it again in a year when the program is updated.
Why is Technology Important to Your Business?
Why is technology important to your business? Do you want to keep employees happy, customers happy, and stay ahead of the competition?
If your answer is yes, then technology is a must for your business. It doesn’t make sense to build a business over the years only to lose out to your competition because you didn’t adapt fast enough.
It doesn’t take much to get started investing in technology. You can identify your most important needs and find reputable vendors to fill those roles, whether it’s installing a new data center or upgrading to a cloud solution for accounting.
Do you want more great business tips? Check out these digital marketing tips you can use without breaking the bank.
