When it comes to operating a business of any size, your success is largely dependent on your IT infrastructure. Without the right tools which allow communication and collaboration, your business becomes inaccessible and unproductive. Below we’ve compiled a list of our three must-have technologies to keep your business ahead of the game.
Communication
It doesn’t matter how good your products or services are, if your customers can’t contact you then your business isn’t going to go very far. When establishing or operating a business, spend sufficient time in ensuring you have the best communication infrastructure you can afford. If you are a medium to large business then an office based PBX system is going to be the way to go. If you’re just starting out or are an online smaller business, such systems are still within your reach, just on a virtual level. Sign up for a virtual telephony system which can handle your customer waits and diversions in the cloud, leaving you with fewer overheads.
Collaboration and Versatility
To get the best performance out of your team, you need products that facilitate collaboration. If you aren’t able to afford a suite of servers and desktop clients, check out the Groupon Coupons page for HP to find great deals on configurable laptops and PCs. Once installed, cloud-based collaboration tools can provide a basic, yet productive level of collaboration with the versatility of allowing your staff to work off-site.
A Web Platform
Even if your store is completely brick and mortar, a web presence is essential if you want to compete in today’s business environment. Similar to the communication tools we mentioned above, if you are operating a large business then your best choice would be to host your own website in-house which can directly link into your sales, CRM and inventory systems. If, however, your business is small and you are using a website to bring sales and communication to your physical office, look for online hosting services which can not only build your website for you, but also provide you with the tools to make basic, yet powerful changes.
While this is by no means a complete list of tech-based business requirements, it provides a solid level of infrastructure for operating a business in the digital world. Once implemented, continue to assess how each item is performing and remain adaptable as the business and consumer worlds continue to move forward.
