Reaching business goals and finding success in today’s highly competitive market is impossible without help. Ever-increasing workloads, market demands, and customer expectations have created an urgent need for performance-enhancing technologies. And many companies have certainly realised this.
Over the years, cloud adoption rates have soared, BYOD policies have become commonplace; and about 80 percent of Australian businesses have implemented big data analytics. In fact, a recent Gartner study suggests the total IT spending in Australia is set to reach $85 billion by the end of 2017.
Implementing cutting-edge technologies is now a strategic priority. But if you’re still not convinced; here are five ways today’s technologies can help drive up business performance.
Enhance efficiency
Provide employees with the right IT setup, and they’ll always be working at peak performance. For example, cloud solutions, whether public, private, or hybrid; gives your employees the flexibility to perform day-to-day tasks from almost any device. Should they need more storage space, user licenses, or productivity features; you just have to pay for what you need. And since applications and files are hosted online, you aren’t restricted to only working on workstations with certain hardware minimums.
Additionally, a fully integrated cloud system allows you to automate routine tasks. For instance, you can create workflows that automatically route routine paperwork from one department to the next. Share settings, email notifications, and other mundane tasks will never eat up employee time again. With menial tasks condensed to just a few clicks; you enable your employees to work on more critical tasks that drive your business forward.
Encourage collaboration
By investing in cloud solutions; you can also see major improvements in team coordination. With platforms like Office 365, employees don’t even have to be in adjacent cubicles to work together. Real-time collaboration features allow employees to work on documents simultaneously and share files instead of waiting for one person to finish the most recent round of edits.
Taking it a step further, tools like Office 365 Groups and Planner keep your employees in sync. In Groups, you get a shared inbox that displays team-related messages and a calendar that uses machine learning; to suggest the best time based on co-workers’ existing commitments and habits. Planner, on the other hand, lets you create a project plan, assign tickets to individual members of your team, and track their progress. All in all, these solutions increase team interactions, eliminate silos between individuals and departments, and, when combined with communication technologies, promote innovation.
Improve communications
Email still reigns supreme when it comes to office communications, but adding more channels introduces more opportunities to collaborate with your staff, business partners, and clients. In fact, a report from the McKinsey Global Institute found that increased spending on networked technologies could boost productivity by 20-25 percent. This is true for companies that invest in collaboration tools and VoIP technology.
VoIP solutions like 3CX Phone Systems offer lower rates for long distance calls and a wide array of advanced calling features. A few of these help you manage call queues to ensure customers aren’t waiting too long to get service. Another feature is the ability to route incoming calls to any company-registered; internet-enabled device so you never miss an important call. You also get to enjoy video conferencing capabilities; allowing you to conduct interactive meetings from anywhere with a stable internet connection.
Meanwhile, group chat software such as Microsoft Teams let you quickly send instant messages and share files with your co-workers. If used seamlessly with company operations; these products encourage solid cooperation throughout your company, and consequently, increases company productivity.
Strengthen customer relationships
The key to closing more sales is understanding customer needs and delivering personalised service. This is achieved easily with a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software.
CRM software records every detail about your interactions with potential and existing customers. By integrating with VoIP solutions and website traffic analytics, you can unify contact information, demographics, website visits, and product preferences into one depository. With this information, sales reps can make their pitches more personalised and offer products and promotions that the client actually cares about.
Increase business insight
Aside from increased productivity; investing in business intelligence technologies set you apart from the competition. BI software like Power BI; boils down large chunks of data to easily digestible reports. With just a click of a button, you can create up-to-the-minute charts of your profit margins, sales information, and key performance indicators; giving you a clearer picture of your business’s financial health and what processes are to be improved. This data is later used to inform future business strategies and help lead you towards success.
To say that IT investments can help your company is an understatement. For small and medium-sized businesses like yours, implementing ground-breaking technologies can do so much more than what we’ve listed. But remember this: Improving performance is not just about purchasing every piece of hardware and software on the market, it’s about how well you integrate new technologies into your organisation. Align IT solutions with your goals, and you’ll reap the benefits in no time.
To ensure that your IT investments result in good business outcomes, Empower IT is here to help. When you call us, you get a comprehensive assessment of your systems and a well thought-out tech strategy to improve your business processes. Contact us today for an expert IT consultation.
