In this rapid digital era, new technologies have given ample scope to transform the base of the market by creating new challenges every single day. It has changed customer experience by operating models and establishing a whole new work environment. With the emergence of scope, scale and complexity of the business, new technologies have developed at an exponential rate. These sophisticated technologies have become more accessible to the wide spectrum of audience. This accessibility is aiming towards a digital culture which can be a source of competitive advantages. It includes a bunch of functions like training, sourcing, logistics, recruiting, marketing and more. It has changed the preconception that technology can only be suited in the IT industry. Access to robust technologies is not at all an exclusive thing for large enterprises. The synchronization between technology and business is no longer optional. It is needed to provide an attractive basis for innovation, to improve cost efficiency and to differentiate between two. According to a recent study, 55% of the start-ups have implemented new technologies to escalate their business whereas, 38% of businesses are still on the verge of it. As a business owner, you need to have a piece of up-to-date knowledge and you need to learn to adopt these constantly evolving technologies. You should have a track of new marketing strategies, emerging trends and exciting new products. This way new technologies can fuel the growth of your business. A recent study has suggested that almost 100 million businesses are launched annually, which means three businesses every second. Don’t be surprised. And, yes you are one of them So, I hope you’ve understood the competition is quite hard and it is harder to top among the huge number. Especially, small-scale businesses are having head to head competition against big guns each day, technology is a vital tool for them to be in the considerate level. If you implement the right technology in small-scale business, there would be high chances to scale up. Top businesses like Amazon, KFC, etc all have started their journey as a small-scale business, even Google Inc. Has started their company from a rented garage. Presently they have made a history establish themselves as the best of all. The use of the right technology can fuel your business process through different business tasks like making hassle-free communication, to secure the business data and improve customer care and so on.
You may pick up one or all among these technologies to accelerate the business process no matter whether you have a small-scale or large-scale business.
If you switch to new technologies, you will be more efficient to bring potential customers. You can adopt mobile marketing, use social media platforms, content marketing and increase the visibility of business extending the general local community you had when you first started your business. And, you can perform these tasks on a reasonable budget.
“The Age of Customer” is here, as you have tech-savvy, demanding and powerful customer you must meet their requirements in order to secure your position. Your business needs to be customer-centric, where you have to focus on the popular demand of the customers and even you can also offer customised services to give your customer the first priority. At this point, technology provides a wealth of solution to serve your purpose by putting your customer at the centre of everything. CRM or customer relationship management tools can provide you with ample scope to understand your customer’s behaviour and requirements. You can offer customised communications to each customer based on their shopping behaviour or you can make more widespread changes to acquire emerging patterns across the customer base. Social media gives you the opportunity to engage with your customer seamlessly. On the other hand, you can offer personalised products and recommend them special discounts. You can also provide them location-based services send them relevant coupon right when one enters a particular location or store.
As you have the track of your customer, you know their preferences use that information, to shape your upcoming plans. Today’s customers demand those organisations they are convinced to be connected. They also expect customised experiences with businesses and brands. Businesses are adopting new applications to cater to their services and products. According to a report “As everyday objects are going online, so too are experiences- creating an abundance of digital channels that reach deep into every aspect of an individual’s lives. Forward-thinking businesses are changing the ways they build new applications, products and services,” explain the report. Mobile ordering, digital payment option, these types of smart objects and social selling are the best means to connect with and selling to customers. Small businesses are presently acquiring social selling and contactless payment methods frequently.
Invoice, payroll, an account can be streamlined or automated. You can use the solutions like Xero, Freshbooks and QuickBooks Online.
In order to implement the methods and tactic you need to acquire some advanced technologies:
Business ideas are better understood when they are shown than just utter. Augmented reality devices are work together remotely and build the thing in relation to the real world. Augmented Reality devices offer an outstanding opportunity to bring products and information to life.
Each business small or large-scale needs to have a proper space for meeting with the team. Presently, a lot of companies shifting their system to a wireless solution to meet the connectors. A wireless solution for the meeting can connect officers with their clients, team members and leaders. VIA line of Collaboration Tools is one such solution, it is developed to take the conference room to wherever the team is. This system allows companies to stream videos and presentation wirelessly among multiple conference room. Its distinguished features aids organisation to attempt meeting beyond simple presentations and it allows employees to work together.
Internet of Things has the facility of consumer-facing technologies which connects security cameras and smart lights. Many companies are taking the advantages of IoT devices to form connected sensors and cameras to manage productivity and efficiency. It aids to speed up the mobility of the employees and offers more productive functions in the workplace irrespective of the location.
Cloud computing has affected immensely in the way we use technology on a daily basis. Cloud Computing infrastructure allows creating a centralised information database system which can be monitored through multiple devices laptop, tablets, smartphones or any internet-accessible device. It can help various organisation to improve products and services and develop their internal communications. Cloud computing technology can handle the entire workforce single-handedly and can connect with each other through data functionality or any material it requires to connect with.
Virtual Reality (VR) is not limited to gaming and entertainment. It can be widely used to increase better customer experience and upsurge sales. This technology has become affordable more than ever which can basically be used for small businesses and can improve growth rapidly. For enriching your websites with videos, people with VR headsets can watch themselves in particular attire. Or if you are owning a real estate business, it enables your client to visit their properties virtually. It can provide them with real-life experience by offering their physical presence. You can allow your customer to ride on a virtual tour of any hotel, offices and factory or any other facilities. Thus, you can see there are endless possibilities from your end to offer extraordinary services and product to your customer.
Artificial intelligence can provide you with exclusive benefits that can be used in your business for better customer experience and to cater your services in a unique way. So, if you want your customer to witness an extraordinary experience join the revolutionary ride. AI technology offers various kind of facilities, in which you can automate daily tasks and improve the efficiency of your company. This way you will be able to pace up and streamline the operations. Artificial Intelligence tools can help you to analyse a huge amount of data and offers you the insights into the assets, the customers, targeted audience, the performance of the employees, and so on. AI technology saves cost and labour and aids to take advanced decisions, eliminating the risk of human error and gives intelligent support and provides ample opportunities to drive sales, ROI (Return on Investments), and revenue.
From digitization to digital transformation, is a smart technique to facilitate various options. It means transforming your data from paper to PDF or Doc and Cash to digital money or mobile payments, physical signature to electronic signatures. This digital manifestation of physical objects can help to grow your business. It can reduce the cost marginally can easily be bundled with other digital or non-digital products. The first step is an organization’s technical journey. Digitalization is focused on leveraging technology to build or transform a business process. The search for new opportunities reduces risks.
“Digitization and digitalization are two conceptual terms that are closely associated and often used interchangeably in a broad range of literature. There is analytical value in explicitly making a clear distinction between these two terms” _ Scott Brennen and Daniel Kreiss.
Wearable technologies like smartwatches, obsolete Glass, etc. has changed the traditional way of interaction with people. Maximum wearable devices are related to health and fitness tracking it gives a different organisation the scope to motivate healthy and active lifestyles for their employees to equip them wearable smart devices. It is not possible to predict how these technologies would affect businesses however, researches have analysed that these technologies have immensely impacted in shaping the growing temperament of any business. Small businesses have already started to adopt these technologies already, and most of them are witnessing rapid growth. However, the key to achieving the most acquiring position is to keep yourself updated with all available technologies to offer the best possible service and build the finest infrastructure. It is essential to be aware of developing technologies in the industry and respond to them accordingly before anybody else starts implementing it.
Technology has changed the whole face of the market with its empowering quality to evolve the whole scenario. When you integrate technology, this will result in an innovative outcome in your business. You need to prioritize your choices before you integrate new technologies with your business:
First Step; Customer Interaction: Start your journey with interacting with your customers. If you know how your customers want to receive your products and services, it will be easy for you to cater to your services. You can collect data from social media profiles and in this process, you have to consistently maintain your tracking. Once you start knowing your customer you need to engage your customers by responding to their messages and checking their feedbacks. This way you will be able to build a compact customer relation, and in this process, you will be able to deliver your product and services more efficiently.
Step two; Automation: In this step, you have to take the shelter of cloud computing where the data will be monitored. Routine tasks like invoicing and payroll would be a hectic task if you do not know how to utilise cloud computing in this particular step.
Third step; Communication: Upgrade your communication technology. You need to stay up-to-date, even for the employees, those who work remotely you need to build up advanced audio, video conference tools and you need to collaborate your document with that. For your customer, you better shift to softphone set-up to offer your consumer better functionality with their preferred services and products.
Step Four; final implementation: Make sure that your business has the agility and bandwidth which is required to meet the increasing demand of the customer.