Technology in your Business - 6 rules |
We spend money on insurance. We have a lawyer (most likely) and an accountant. Why then when it comes to spending on technology, many of us only spend money if we have to? Not investing in technology we think we don’t need is often a mistake. If you are building a business that's built to last you must think of your technology spending as an investment in your business growth. You must spend money on technology that will help you now and in the future. The right investments in technology will help you save money, save time, do more with less and overall grow your business. Don't think of where your business is now, but think of where your business will be in 5 years and invest in technology accordingly.
Many of you, like I do, use Microsoft Outlook or some other email program as the core foundation of their business. You use it to manage your email, tasks, notes and calendar and that's good. But if we want to increase sales to your current customers and really know everything you can about each customer, based on each interaction they have with you - you must use a true CRM product or service.
There are some very powerful website analytics programs that you can use not only track how many visitors come to your website but where they come from and when. Tie this together with your other marketing campaigns and you have a very effective campaign performance monitor. For example, does a sudden spike (or drop) in visitors to your site correlate with the beginning (or end) of a radio campaign? Or a newspaper advertisement? Or did you new advertising campaign make no difference at all. It’s all very powerful information.
If you and your staff are sitting desks all day long I guess you don't need mobile technology. However, if you and your staff are traveling around (as I suspect you do) then you need to implement mobile technology solutions. This means that you can access your office, wherever you are - email, faxes, files - you can access it all. There's no reason you should have to tell a customer you didn't get their email or voice mail as you were out of the office. Take your office with you by leveraging mobile technology.
There is no need at all for you to manage and implement technology on your own. Sure, you are an expert in what you but you are not an expert in network security, data backup or mobile technology. The only way you are going to maximize your use of technology is to outsource your use and implementation of it, it in your business. At the same time however its important you keep hold of your computer network documentation, account details and work logs. Too many businesses have experienced a break down only to find their provider can’t be contacted. Then no one else can help due to the lack of documentation or server account details.
I'm sure you run a very good business and do your best to manage its various processes, however if there are parts of your business that are not going so well and you think technology is the answer, you're probably wrong. Technology can support great service, quality, range and professionalism overall by capturing customer likes, dislikes, preferences etc but it often struggles to replace these things. The larger banks found this as they rolled back their personal customer service through their branch networks in preference for customer service using technology. This has allowed many smaller players to enter the market using personal service as their competitive advantage. This isn’t to say what the large banks have done is necessarily wrong it’s just for those of us in small business, using technology as a direct interface needs to be carefully considered. For most of us the adage ought be ‘employ great staff and then leverage them with supporting technology’. As part of a wider business consulting and training group, the Partnercorp Information Technology team knows exactly how to support business growth through the proper application of IT solutions and maintenance programs. If you’re a small or medium size businesses click here to find more about how our IT products and services can support you. |