Every business owner understands how important technology is in a company. It can help you to increase productivity by making life easier for your employees, or for yourself if you are a one person show.
It can cut your running costs by performing tasks that would normally be done by paid staff, less the load for overworked you, and it can help you give your customers a better quality of service.
But technology only brings those benefits if you know how to use it properly. A lot of businesses are still seeing some benefits from their technology but they aren’t maximizing its potential. If you’re a bit unsure about your business technology, here are a few ways to make it work harder for you.
Automation
Automation is one of the best new innovations in business technology and it can make wide scale improvements to your company if you implement it in the right way. You can automate so many time-consuming business processes that would normally take up the majority of your employee’s time, which means that they can dedicate their days to more important things that help push the company forward.
Things like email marketing, for example, which is so important but also very labor intensive, can be completely automated. You can also use automation to streamline your lead generation system so leads are passed automatically from marketing to sales. If you’re using automation properly, your employees, or you, if you run a solo operation, will be so much more productive.
Learn To Fix Software
When technology goes wrong, it can really slow things down. You’ll have to call IT specialists in to fix the problem right away, and that’s costing you money. But if you can learn to do some basic fixes yourself, it will help you to get things up and running again quicker and save you some money at the same time.
If you’re using Windows, you should get to grips with Notepad++, it’s the most common program that people use for fixing coding issues with their software. If you’re using a Mac, you won’t be able to get Notepad++ but there are alternatives available (visit https://setapp.com/how-to/alternative-to-notepad++-for-mac for more info) that do the same job. You aren’t going to be able to fix any of the more serious issues with software, but you can avoid paying an IT specialist to come fix tiny problems.
Use Data Properly
Your business collects so much data about your customers, but so many people don’t really know what to do with that information. If you’re just sitting on all of that data and you aren’t using it, you’re missing a big opportunity. If you’re going to market to your customers effectively, you need to know what makes them tick, and all of that data that you collect about them can help you out.
You can see what their buying habits are, which products are performing well and which ones aren’t, which marketing campaigns are generating leads and which ones aren’t. You need to be analyzing all of that customer data and using it to direct marketing campaigns and new product development.
If you follow these simple tips, you can make your business technology work a lot harder for you.
Remember the words of Colossians 3:17. “And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
I cherish that verse in The Passion Translation. It reads, “Let every activity of your lives and every word that comes from your lips be drenched with the beauty of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One. And bring your constant praise to God the Father because of what Christ has done for you!
This includes our businesses.