If you want to run a business in this century, you have to embrace electronics and technology as it grows and becomes vital in the operations of businesses around the globe. Your business is no different.
Commonly, companies are using technology to execute a good chunk of their tasks. As a result of this job automation, productivity is higher and more efficient.
Unlike human beings, electronics can deliver continuous results for your business without getting tired. The question most people ask is, how should they develop their businesses using technology and electronics to be successful? Here is how:
1. Faster and More Comprehensive Communication
In any business, communication is vital for success. The availability of the internet and devices that use it like laptops and mobile phones have brought about radical improvements in communication.
As a business owner, one of your most important responsibilities is to ensure that you use the available communication resources to lead, guide, and direct those that report to you. Once that is done, things move faster.
The invention of the “cloud” enables people to communicate and work on a project even if they are in different locations. As a topic for another day, working remotely has become extremely popular among many companies, and allows for a better balance between work and life at home.
In the medical industry, technology has allowed surgeons to use virtual operating theaters to oversee surgical operations.
As time goes by, the processing speeds of these machines will likely increase and we will see more and more jobs moving toward job automation or virtual assistance. Therefore, because of this expected rise in communication technologies, one must prepare his or her business to keep up.
Platforms such as Google Docs and Slack have allowed companies to move further into the world of remote work. These and other similar platforms are not all brand new but have recently been integrated more fully to allow for a better balance between projects, team communication, and being there for our families.
It seems that these days, the bigger the company, the more useful and integral these apps and sites are to the company and personal success.
Recently, I read about Slack being used heavily in many different companies, but especially within Cole Haan. They are developing footwear that breaks the boundaries of traditional, professional, comfortable, and modern—and needed a tool to be able to keep up with their fast-paced production. So Slack was the easy choice.
For Cole Haan and many other innovative companies, the innovative and obvious choice is a platform such as Slack for convenience, speed, and reliability.
2. Improving Client Satisfaction
A client is vital for the success of any business; therefore, it is the responsibility of the management to ensure that the valued customers are always happy and feel that they are being taken care of. Customers expect regular updates when there is a new item in or out of stock.
Nobody likes to prepare to purchase a product and find out that it is not available. For this reason, many companies have electronic inventory systems that they use to interact with clients. If you have multiple stores, you can generally use this same system to check the inventory of your various stores.
The number of people gaining access to the internet is rising every day. Being able to reach everyone at once is a challenge that most businesses find difficult and overwhelming. Therefore, you can opt to create a streaming platform to ensure that you reach potential clients who cannot access your store.
With rising demand and expectations from our customers, companies like yours and mine will only be able to fully satisfy our clients if we integrate new technology into our business.
Aside from selling a company’s product, technology is now the largest means of communication with fans or supporters. Instagram and Facebook, for example, have taken over the world and are now the platform of choice for representing a brand.
As an avid baseball fan, the best example of this is the Major League Baseball Instagram account. The constant posting and interacting with fans is what keeps people engaged and what makes a sometimes boring game so much more exciting.
Responding to disgruntled fans and those who wish to purchase merchandise on their accounts has made them a prime example of how tech (and the apps available) have changed customer interaction.
3. Ability to monitor Employees and Business Productivity
Manually monitoring business and its employees is a considerable challenge. It can be even harder if you try to do it all yourself.
However, thanks to technology, managers make use of business productivity software to get updates on the progress of a project. Since this new technology adds the ability for your employees to learn new skills and perform at their highest level, your company can be more productive.
The moment you encourage your employees to learn how to operate new electronic equipment, you create a culture of progress. This culture enhances learning and encourages employees to improve. These improvements, whether they be personal or work-related, will always have depth and useful skills for your team.
Finally, always remember to reward your staff members when they perform well on a task or bring something new to the table. You may never know how far your support can go.
4. Saving on Labor
As technology continues to grow, some business operations will become automated. Machines can communicate with one another and execute tasks using artificial intelligence and can do so flawlessly. As a result, a company may not need to employ more people since these machines can do a lot of the menial and time-consuming jobs.
One important concept that we must remember is that it is essential to find someone skilled and knowledgeable enough to monitor the operations of the equipment. The use of more technology does not mean that management can sit idly by. Machines can break, technology can complicate itself, and will always require some sort of oversight to ensure that all is running smoothly.
Since the firm saves on labor costs because of job automation, the resources that could have been used to pay the workforce can be used to improve another sector of the business.
Many healthcare and service companies have integrated the “self-serve” method of appointment scheduling and customer contact. More and more lately, you’ll be directed to an online portal to schedule your appointment. Even better, you are able to schedule a home repairman through an application such as Square Appointments. What is fairly new now, I believe will become commonplace as these menial tasks are dissolved.
Because of its simplicity and reliability, these and other platforms have penetrated nearly every industry. From the development of Excel and Microsoft Office years ago to customer interaction platforms, technology is simplifying the way businesses are run. There are so many more opportunities these days to expand and better your company, just through the use of technology. We’d all be crazy to not experiment with it.
5. Connecting Teams Virtually in the Company
No matter your location, technology enables you to connect with the employees in your organization through the employee portal.
There are dozens of these platforms out there, which allow for amazing collaboration and organization on projects. Allowing employees to communicate while they undertake a project is a spectacular idea because they are then able to exchange ideas easily, coordinate plans, and correct one another if needed.
Additionally, experts may also be added to the portal to assist employees in case they have a pressing issue that needs urgent attention. These management portals or platforms are widely available and can make the difference in your company, especially with multiple locations or employees working remotely.
6. Getting Rid of Redundant Tasks
Technology adds automation to tasks that you keep spending time on to do over and over again. For most people and businesses, this repetition is meaningless. The employee isn’t challenged and therefore won’t grow to be more productive or beneficial to the company.
This is the opposite of what every manager wants. If you want to send a courtesy email to your clients, you don’t need to write the same thing to every new client. You can opt to use a service company to send an email automatically to new subscribers. In many businesses, this is the epitome of job automation. The amount of time this saves will be dramatic.
If you aren’t already using an email service to take care of this redundant task, consider making this your first action item in next week’s meeting. You’ll be amazed by the time you save.
There are many examples of companies and industries that are embracing technology and seeing the results in their workplaces. I previously mentioned the healthcare industry as one that has begun to adopt technology into the workspace, but it hasn’t always been that way.
I think we can all agree that the healthcare industry has been one of the slower to trust technology with the tasks that have been completed by humans for so many years. This could be because of usability issues, or even patient confidentiality. But now, things could change.
The credibility and trust that these companies have built are changing the world’s willingness to adapt. Sooner or later, technology will have a prevalence we never expected!
If you are a business owner or management in a company, technology and electronics are some things that you cannot avoid if you want to succeed. The world is moving steadily in this direction and will continue to leave companies behind if they don’t decide to embrace these advances.
While there is a lot to consider when implementing new technology, the above tips clearly explain how technology can help to improve business processes. Now, it is just a matter of figuring out what works for you.
Paisley Hansen is a mother of three and a small business owner. She spends her time caring for her children and taking her business to the next level. When she’s not busy working or taking care of her kids, you can find her at the gym or curl up with a good book.
