Technology moves incredibly quickly, and as a business owner it’s your job to keep up or get left in the dark. Is your business making the most of these modern advancements?

Cloud Technology

Computer hard-drives and in-house servers both have significant weaknesses. If there’s a burglary, flood, fire or a natural disaster, then you’re just as likely to lose the backup copies as the originals. Stay up to date and stop risking your business and get your head in the cloud; cloud storage involves storing your files on a remote server. Not only does this mean that your backups are always kept safe, but you also have the benefit of accessing the information securely from any computer or location. If you have staff that work remotely, then this can make life much more manageable.

Business Software

There are lots of tasks in business that if manual methods are used, the process is drawn out and tedious. The advancement of technology has lead to the creation of business software which can automate lots of jobs and generally make everything quicker and easier. While right now, we’re still a way of being able to completely run a business without human staff, it can certainly make their life easier and their processes quicker and more accurate. This means you don’t need to hire as many people, and the workers you do have can be used to their best potential. Business software can include everything from rota planning to accounting, legal software and more.  You could even go a step further and have your own company software created, top custom software development companies are able to do this and it can help with the smooth running of your business.

Data Analytics

Data analytics is a way of using vast amounts of data which find trends to help your business continually improve. Data analytics can be used to streamline everything from risk assessment to stock-keeping and much more. Analytics software such as Google Analytics for example is a way you can monitor your website visitors, and find out what kind of people are going to your site and are therefore interested in your business. When you know this kind of information, it can help you adjust your marketing methods and other sales techniques accordingly. For example, if most people are visiting your site in the evening then posting marketing materials on social media in the late afternoon could be the best way to go.

A Smartphone App

We all know how important a company website is, even if you don’t sell online it’s vital to have an online presence with your company information and contact details available. However, many smaller and medium-sized businesses are yet to go a step further and have a smartphone app created if this includes you then now is the time to take the plunge. In the near future, an app will be as vital to success in business as a website is today, but for now, you have a chance to get ahead. More sales now are made on smartphones and tablets than any other device- information you can’t afford to overlook as a company owner.

Social Media Marketing

Social media has taken off in a big way in recent years. Not only is it a great way to keep in touch with people in your personal life but it’s something that you can massively take advantage of as a business. Social media allows you to get closer to your customers, enables you to get to know them on a more personal and casual level. You can have conversations which can get people intrigued about your business, answer customer queries quickly and easily and provide another form of contact and communication for your customers.

Contactless Payments

Consumers are all about convenience. So developments like contactless have really taken off in recent times, and this is something you should be taking advantage of as a business owner. Paying using contactless debit cards or smartphone apps Apple or Android Pay to is incredibly convenient. If you sell physical items from a store, fast payments help to prevent queues and keeps you efficient. At the very least you should have card payments available, research has shown time and time again that customers don’t carry much cash. If your business involves selling anything that could be considered as an impulse purchase then not having card payment could lose you out on a massive number of sales.