How Technology Improves Business
In the world of business today it is no longer about working hard but also working smart. Thanks to technology businesses are able to catch up with time and satisfy the needs of their customers.
Saving time and increasing productivity are goals of every business, but how can you harness the power of technology to achieve this?
Whether processing invoices, catching up with emails or communicating with customers, many small business owners feel there just isn’t enough time in the day.
Thankfully, technology can help entrepreneurs to streamline their busy lives. Computers crunch data, debit cards tap into contactless systems and video conferencing enables meetings to take place with people on the other side of the world. In theory tasks can be completed quicker than ever before – if you’re working efficiently that is.
The flipside to this technological advancement is that it can sometimes feel like a minefield for small businesses. Should you sign up to every time-saving piece of technology that exists? Or should you just choose one or two and rely on your tried and tested old-fashioned methods?
Sourced from: https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2014/oct/03/live-qa-use-technology-business-more-efficient
So how has technology made business easier? Well first of it has made it easier to do repetitive things. Information can also be transferred quickly hence making it easier to make decisions since the information leading to that can be shared quickly with the parties involved.
Repetitive Actions
Technology is bad at making decisions but good at performing the same action over and over, so look for places in your operation where people have to perform repetitive tasks. Put technology to work there and put your people to work using their brains. Depending on your line of work, replace repetitive machining steps with casting, some other metal-forming or the use of computer numerical control machines; update a reception or reservation process so customer service staff doesn’t need to re-enter information that’s already in your system; or enable your point-of-sale system to seamlessly integrate with your bookkeeping system so periodic reports can be automatically generated.
Improving Information Transfer
Organizational effectiveness is often diminished because information doesn’t make its way everywhere it needs to be. Poor information transfer is most directly felt in project teams — ad hoc or permanent teams assembled to accomplish a specific task. Technology that can help in this area in your company includes a website for maintaining current information on company goals and the status of various projects and initiatives; a remote project management software tool for handling a team distributed either geographically or in terms of work schedules; or the use of social media tools like Twitter to keep all the members of your team up to date.
Sourced from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/use-technology-work-effectively-56864.html
Are there ways in which technology can improve workplace productivity? The answer is yes and there are several company heads who can attest to that.
Ways to Leverage Technology to Improve Business Productivity
1. Hold virtual meetings with Asana.
“We meet virtually as much as possible via the online task tracker Asana. This allows all of our team members to instantaneously update progress on any given task or project, and we can access this information from anywhere. This saves immense amounts of time by minimizing and streamlining internal meetings. This allows us to easily and efficiently stay up to date.”
– Elle Kaplan, Co-Founder and CEO of Lexion Capital: @LexionCapital
Prioritize sales opportunities with cloud based CRM tools like Zoho.
“Finding the right technology solution is critical for small business owners. We use Zoho.com, a web based CRM (customer relation management) tool, to manage our client pipeline. This tool helps us focus on the important tasks that need to be done each day. The ability to set up ‘potentials’ keeps serious inquiries front and center. Using a CRM tool effectively will help prevent profitable business from falling through the cracks.”
– Denielle Lue, Owner of Stitch to My Lue Promotions: @StitchToMyLue
Sourced from: http://yfsmagazine.com/2013/05/10/12-ways-to-leverage-technology-to-improve-business-productivity/
