How Technology can Help Grow Your Small Business with These 5 Ways
Introduction
Today’s customers anticipate personalized customer service at all times. What’s more, they expect this from both small and big companies.
Big businesses have enough resources enabling them to utilize technology to offer 24/7 personalized customer service. On the contrary, small businesses lack such resources and the in-house skills needed to leverage technological advancements.
Luckily, there are plenty of cheap or free technical solutions for the growth of your small business.
Here are five ways technology can help grow your small business.
1. Automation of Processes
Technology has made the automation of processes and services in businesses possible. These actions help your small business to save on both money and time.
Automation also allows you to offer a high-quality customer experience around the clock. With the advancements in the mobile app development process, close to 45% of business activities can be automated.
New automation technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning have taken over the business world.
For example, the use of AI chatbots has revolutionized the online customer service experience. Most businesses have now integrated AI chatbots into their websites and mobile apps to offer quality and timely customer service.
Similarly, your small business can utilize AI chatbots to automate online customer service for a better customer experience. Improved customer experience leads to more sales and increases customer-to-customer referrals to your business.
Your small business can also automate other processes, including collection, organization, and analysis of data. Ultimately, this will cut costs, save on time, and offer excellent services, resulting in your small business’s desired growth.
2. Digitized Marketing Campaigns
The conventional marketing strategies through Television, print media, and radio are expensive for small businesses. Using technology, small businesses can now employ digital marketing strategies that are either free or affordable.
Small businesses don’t require big marketing budgets to create pay-per-click or social media ad campaigns with technological advancements. Since such marketing campaigns get linked to the company’s sales pages, more sales are made, resulting in business growth.
3. Cloud Computing
In the past, manual storage of information led to many data challenges. Small businesses had issues with where to store their data safely.
However, with advancements in technology, data can be stored securely in the cloud as it allows encryption.
Also, passwords and other security measures are implemented to enhance data security. Small businesses can back up their data making it safe and easy to retrieve using cloud computing technology.
Cloud storage grants users access to business resources and digital assets from any part of the world.
Additionally, cloud computing enables users to collaborate when working on business projects and allows businesses to store much data. With all these benefits, cloud computing can play a crucial role in business growth.
4. Online-based Sales and Payment Systems
Technological advancement has made it possible for small businesses to integrate online-based payment systems into their commercial websites.
Because of payment flexibility, many small businesses have expanded their online market segments.
Currently, consumers embrace the convenience of placing orders and paying for them from their comfort zones. By integrating web-based payments systems, small businesses can attract such clients and realize extra sales.
5. Project Management Applications and Software
Small businesses can utilize project management software to organize and manage in-progress projects. With such technological advancements, business owners can centrally see who’s working on which task and their progress.
Project teams can view schedules and project calendars through the software. Markedly, this helps your small business to coordinate activities seamlessly.
Project managers can also share and communicate with teams important information through the project management software.
The utilization of these applications and software promotes timely communication and sharing of essential resources. These aspects promote effective and fast completion of projects.
Ultimately, your small business will expand and grow due to the streamlined and simplified execution of projects:
- Technology is a powerful tool at the disposal of small businesses. This tool can revolutionize their business processes.
- Technology is a low-cost business solution for enhancing brand awareness and boosting customer experience.
Conclusion
Whereas there are many ways technology can promote business growth, the five methods discussed in this post can be a good starting point.
You can begin by automating some of the processes in your business to realize efficiency and cut costs. Your business can also create digitized marketing campaigns, store data securely in cloud storage, and increase online sales through web-based payment platforms.