Small Business Technology and the Essentials

Small businesses benefit in many ways when they choose to make use of the latest technological advances in the industry. You don’t need to be a million-dollar enterprise to make use of the latest technology to ease your workload.

Here are a few technologies that will help you boost your sales and profit while adding to your team’s overall productivity.

Purchasing the Right Technology

With the ever-changing and updating ecosystem of smartphones and computer systems, you must be aware of the nitty-gritty of these devices. Picking the right device helps in using it for an extended period and in cutting down on operational costs.

You don’t need to update your hardware as regularly as you think you need to. More than hardware updates, software updates are essential. You don’t need very sophisticated and powerful hardware too, talk to your vendor and choose your system wisely. When it comes to hardware, the power you require is simply the power you can afford.

However, keep updating your hardware once every 5 to 6 years depending on the needs of your business. You should also purchase software, install antivirus, and cloud backup facilities.

Employing Software(s)

Depending on the kind of small business you operate, there are three common software that are being adopted by businesses worldwide and will be of great use to you.

1. Accounting Software
   • Tired of bookkeeping and tax preparation routines? For all of you that are making trips to your accountant again and again for your concerns and common accounting work, accounting software can come to your rescue. It helps you in simplifying financial documents during the pre-sale phase and also helps you stay ready for tax filing work as well.
2. CRM Software
   • Customer Relationship Management Software helps in managing the customer relationship for organizations. From contacting your customers to updating them and interacting during the period of sale and after the sale as well.
3. Inventory Management Software
   • Inventory Management is one of the most menial and time-consuming tasks that every small business owner deals with. As some small businesses are understaffed, Inventory Management Software helps you in managing your inventory efficiently and saves you time and effort in the long run. You can now remain up to date with your inventory pre and post-sale.
4. Supplier Management Software
   • With supplier management software, you will be able to monitor your supplier’s performance efficiently. With this type of software, you can maintain and access a database of supplier records, dutifully track and reduce company expenses, strictly monitor contract compliance, and many more!

POS

A point of sale system is perhaps the most key and primary system every small business owner needs. Calculating the total bill, printing an invoice, acknowledging the payment, and keeping track of this whole process is very important to every business, whether they are small or large. Therefore, you must always place an effort towards procuring the best POS system for you and install it in your small business.

By affording the best in fundamental aspects like this, there will be an unprecedented growth in the overall productivity and efficiency of your business as a whole, and for your employees as well.

Mobile-Friendly Applications

With most of your consumers being reasonably tech-savvy and smartphones being offered at an affordable price, you now have a vast customer base that’s incredibly comfortable with mobile phones, and therefore, mobile purchases. In such cases, you need to put the effort into developing a mobile-friendly application and website that will accept payments through mobile phones with the help of secure mobile wallets.

Cloud Computing

Nowadays, everything is moving on to the cloud. Gone are the days of manually maintaining records and facing immense trouble in the wake of any accidental damage and buying hardware for every need.

With SaaS (software as a service) and Cloud Computing, you can replace your hardware and use modern software applications instead. Using a system like Netsuite can elevate your business to a whole new level. It’s quite simple to integrate Netsuite into your workflow, as well. The use of Cloud Computing technology facilitates all of this. This technology is scalable, secure, flexible, and more efficient overall.

Business Analytics and Business Intelligence

Thanks to SaaS, small businesses are now able to tap into the enormous pool of business intelligence tools and services available. They can also purchase and subscribe to the software and tools which provide data analytics.

As it is commonly said, numbers don’t lie. Use business analytics to stay up to date with the analysis of all the data your business generates. Get reports on the profit, loss, inventory, customer data, and other areas that will help you in understanding your business better, and at a higher level.

Robust Payment Methods

Always look towards providing a robust and secure payment method for your customers. Gone are the days when everyone pays with cash. With many types of mobile wallets, payment applications, and payment gateways, your ability to pick the robust, reliable, and secure payment gateway will be an essential and added benefit to your business.