Running a business has always required hard work, intelligence, and grit. Nowadays, it also requires an awareness of technology and how fast the world around you is developing. There are endless problems a business manager runs into throughout their day, but not all of these problems need to be regular occurrences. Technologies are being developed all the time that can assist managers, CEOs, and entrepreneurs and minimize what used to be standard struggles.
If you’re a bit wary of taking the leap, just consider that some of your competitors will be incorporating new tech, and this means they’re going to be experiencing higher efficiency and fewer headaches. To stay competitive, it’s a good idea to at least learn about some of the technological solutions that are available. The following will explore a handful of the many advanced technologies that can help fine-tune your business so you can spend more time dealing with the parts of your work that you’re passionate about and less time struggling with mundane, solvable problems.
AI-Assisted Legal Support
Artificial intelligence technologies are developing rapidly, and it turns out they can help you with far more than you might first think. Brightflag points out that artificial intelligence can assist businesses with many of their legal needs. Things like drafting legal service requests, managing legal matters, and overseeing legal spending can all be improved with fast-learning artificial intelligence. The beauty of AI is how quickly it learns, meaning it can help you adapt and adjust to new scenarios rapidly. This means that any AI incorporated now can be made scalable so that as your business develops and expands, you can easily adapt.
Team Communications Technology
There are dozens of platforms designed specifically to make it easier for members of your team to interact and get work done. In many situations, a quick message in a group message board is more efficient than an email chain or a phone call. People can read and react to things in real-time and jump in whenever needed. If they’re not needed in the conversation, they can carry on with their other work. Things like Slack, Miro, Asana, and Teams can help staff work together even if they’re far apart.
Collaboration and keeping everyone in the loop are quintessential for a business to cut out wasted time. Greater efficiency means more work accomplished for the same (or sometimes even less) money. Having everyone able to chat with whomever they need to quickly will improve both of these aspects of your business.
When implementing, be sure that staff understands how to use the new tool and make a few standards clear (who should be tagged, which boards are for which types of conversation). This will help ease employees in. If you have many shy staff members, it might also be good to create a standard of group posts for certain topics (something like, Hey team! Update: Project M needs to be reviewed). Once you’ve created templates, those who are post shy might have an easier time sharing their progress in a group chat setting.
Cloud-Based Storage
In today’s digital world, businesses have a lot of files they need storing. Given this, one of the fastest-growing technological additions to businesses is cloud-based storage. Cloud storage is a simple concept that you’re probably already using, whether you realize it or not. Your email uses cloud storage; your phone likely does too. It involves storing data or files online in the digital sphere. The name cloud comes from the sensation that the files are being stored in the ether or up in the clouds.
There are countless options available for businesses in this respect, depending on how much storage space you need and the level of security you require. Most options are set up to be easily scalable should your business grow, and your needs change.
One of the biggest benefits of cloud-based storage is the physical safety of files. Files kept on a computer in your office or in a filing cabinet are susceptible to damages done by fires, floods, and earthquakes (or severe coffee-spill incidents). They also result in you needing far less physical space on your devices or in the workplace, lower energy bills as on-site data storage is demanding and adds up, and less environmental damage as less paper is needed.
Virtual Reality
Virtual reality isn’t just science fiction and horror video games; it can help business owners drastically. It turns out that virtual reality has been changing the training game. There are countless programs available and companies willing to craft an experience particular to your workplace in order to help you create truly valuable training materials. Practice makes perfect, but some industries don’t have a safe or inexpensive means by which employees can practice their skills or crafts. Virtual reality training materials can help with this.
Customer Experience Technology
Customer experience technology helps businesses connect and work with their customers. This can be as simple as compiling basic data like names, contact information, and purchase history in a secure location that staff can easily access when they need to. Of course, there are options that take this to the next level and automate customer interactions with the company allowing for shorter wait times when clients need to reach out and directing people to exactly the information they need as fast as possible. Some customer experience technology even combines with augmented reality technology to create unforgettable customer experiences.
Accounting Technology
Accounting is one of those elements of business where precision is critical. Mistakes can be costly come tax season and occasionally even result in legal proceedings. There are a handful of stellar accounting technologies that can help minimize the risk of error while speeding up the process of completing daily accounting tasks. Couple this with the way many accounting-focused technologies can provide analytic data on income, spending, and earnings, and you’ve got yourself a business that’s in the clear come tax season built around actionable data.
The above list contains just a few of the many ways new technologies can dramatically revamp business management. It might also be a good idea to speak to your staff about their pain points and any relevant technologies that they’ve heard of which might be able to help them out. Sometimes there are frustrations that can easily be eliminated, resulting in greater employee satisfaction and productivity.
About the Author
Anthony Jacobs is an experienced writer and active contributor. He is fond of blogging, motivation articles, and management. His passion lies is in helping companies to grow revenues by delivering top-notch IoT development services and building value-based partnerships.
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