With more than 23 million small businesses competing with major retailers in America, technology has become a vital tool to help small companies compete with the large ones. Business owners spend considerable time building a great business reputation, and now it is time to apply technology to keep up with the big competition. Technology is at the fingertips of every business owner with tablets applications and other technological devices at their disposal. This means that a business can easily tweet, process credit card and manage payrolls. Therefore, with technology, small businesses can compete easily with the big companies. It is worth that business owners know some technology secrets to help them market their company. Therefore, before launching a business, an owner has to consider the following technological secrets.
Firstly, the business owner should take his company to the cloud. It is evident that some small companies still use calendars, spreadsheets and large amounts of paper file. The old way of file management is a waste of time, and it is time to take advantage of available technology. Cloud connectivity will help the company to access its files at a speed, thereby, reducing the time taken in sharing of information. Further, some options in this technology include products such as billing, sing ups and scheduling that all help make the life of the owner simple. The second way to improve business is crating online reward and loyalty products for its customers. Indeed, old customers are of much value than the new ones, therefore, it is vital to invest in their loyalty.
Technology has helped eliminate old ways of customer loyalty management such as paper punch cards. Technology has introduced programs such as Perka and Five Stars that assist in creating loyalty programs. Thirdly, it is vital that businesses take advantage of the sales plug-ins. A plug-ins allows businesses to make their Gmail accounts to a much more powerful tool. Therefore, such plug-ins can assist the business owner keep track of their customers’ mails from the inbox. Applications such as Yes ware, that tracks emails and Boomerang that act a scheduling and reminder tool. Further, it is worth utilizing productivity tools that are inexpensive. At the start, human resource and accounting tools were expensive to purchase. However, competition in technology has helped in creation of cheap applications. For instance, a small business may purchase accounting applications such as Fresh books and Wave Accounting and customer care tools such as Intercom that are cheap and readily available.
Further, technology has assisted in making sales an easy job. Therefore, a small business can take advantage and eliminate the point of sale from the sales department. There are free applications on the internet that help increase the model of payments in a business. For instance, a small business owner can use applications such as Mobile square Reader for use in Android and iOS devices to help in getting payment through debit and credit cards. However, such an undertaking is a risky one and one must secure their mobile devices from potential hackers.
Indeed, there are many ways that technology can help a small business owner to compete with large firms. Time has changed and so is technology, and there are many forms of technology out there to help a business in every need. Therefore, it upon the owners to determine the kind of technology that is available to make their businesses run efficiently.