All entrepreneurs begin their venture with a focus on growth. In the busy marketplaces in today’s world, scaling small businesses seems like a hard challenge. It takes considerable effort in the beginning to deal with sales and marketing, understand taxes and corporate compliance, and build strong customer loyalty. Yet, for all the small businesses struggling to grow in the market, technology innovations seem to be the light at the end of the tunnel. Undoubtedly, innovative technology is empowering small businesses to thrive. Nowadays, technology can help startups to leverage limited capital in more effective and easier ways. Technology advancements are helping business processes progress by providing greater efficiency and versatility. Business specialists from today’s world are recommending small businesses to rely on technology for their growth. For example, Dorian Barak, a veteran fund manager and private equity investor, has a unique approach to advising strategic investors and funds on technology investments and acquisitions. As the CEO of Indigo Global, he knows exactly how to advise small businesses to make the best decisions for their empowerment through technology. Read below how small businesses can utilize the boon of technology to their advantage.
Increased productivity
There is no doubt that by increasing the productivity of the business processes, there will also be increased financial returns leading to growth. Using technology to maximize the company’s productivity creates a platform to achieve true business success. The most important factor in the success of a company is productive employees. Technology innovations empower employees. They can create an open and communicative environment that enhances faster communication of business strategies if they are to change according to the market trends. For example, it easily helps connect teams virtually within the company as an employee portal. It helps the employees work productively as a team, no matter the location. This way, employees are empowered to reach out to each other when working on similar projects or find answers to their questions throughout the organization. China and Israel are the two examples which the business specialist Dorian Barak uses to prove how technology innovates and empowers businesses.
It helps small startups to have all the organizational tools to overcome the challenges of executing all the necessary business processes. Business productivity software solutions, for example, empower business owners to track progress more easily. Today’s technology provides business owners with advanced reports and business analyses for a deeper understanding of the performance of the employees, customer preferences, and market trends. The benefit of well-detailed reports and feedback is that entrepreneurs can use the information to work better in redesigning their strategies and taking their business on the right track.
Reliable storage
Another challenge that all businesses are struggling with is dealing with a large amount of data. Technology has made it a lot easier for them to store, find, and keep safe the most essential data for the business. The abundance of data can now be stored easier with cloud computing. The cloud has the ability to be freely accessed and used anywhere via the internet. It empowers employees to keep track and deal with the most important information of the business such as customer data, documents, inventory, and business strategies. Information protection is another crucial aspect for businesses no matter their size or industry. Unsecured data can ruin companies by either giving an advantage to their competitors or ruining their reputation. It can cost them large amounts of money, or even their failure in the marketplace. Storage systems can keep company information safe from the eyes of the competitors, by only allowing certain users to access, add or change a document.
Expanded partner networks
Especially in their first year on the market, small businesses find it difficult to do business with large companies that already have achieved success. Large players in the marketplace used to only have access to each other’s businesses and established networks of vendors and suppliers. The digital revolution has completely changed the business game. Nowadays, technology innovations and the rise of the internet allows small startups to access the global marketplace. They no longer have to compete with each other, but rather enter an international market where they can have worldwide famous companies as competitors or business partners. Moreover, they also have the ability to put their businesses on the global market to find worldwide customers. The rapid development of e-commerce allows them to increase their sales and profit by being able to sell their products and services locally, nationally, and internationally.
Global marketing
All businesses, no matter their size or industry, rely on strong marketing strategies to build their brand awareness, build strong customer loyalty, and advertise their products and services to increase their sales. No business would be able to thrive without having a strong presence both in the offline market and, especially in today’s world, in the online market. The rise of the internet and electronic device has completely changed the way businesses are marketing their products or services and the way customers purchase them. While some traditional entrepreneurs still believe in the power of offline marketing, young and energized entrepreneurs have understood the benefits they can get from marketing their businesses online. Having a website, social media presence, mobile app, and any other digital marketing venues are the best ways to ensure success in the e-commerce business and the physical marketplace.
Reduced costs
The biggest benefit of technology innovations in business is the fact that they help entrepreneurs make significant financial savings. First of all, technology has helped both small and large businesses to compete in the same global market. In the past, small businesses could not access international marketplaces as they could simply not afford it. Nowadays, internet connectivity allows even small businesses to progress with their business processes for very low prices. Technology helps any business to reduce its costs in numerous ways. For example, the advances in communication with business partners or customers from all around the world have made it easier to reduce travel costs. Data storage solutions can reduce warehousing and server maintenance costs. Also, the biggest expense that businesses need to make is payroll. Automation, robots, and artificial intelligence increase the productivity of companies which can do more with few workers, saving money on payroll costs.
