8 Ways Technology Can Help You Manage Your Small Business Successfully

Technology is changing at a frantic pace. It’s getting faster and it’s getting better, and it’s definitely changing the way small businesses function. Technology has presented new, inspiring and exciting opportunities to small businesses. It is now quite evident that if businesses have to survive and gain a competitive edge over their competitors, they will have to embrace technology. But whether a small business just survives, thrives, or shuts shop can depend on how its leadership responds to this technology change.

If you are a business owner, you would have a fair idea of how technology is creeping into business processes. If you effectively respond to the technology changes that are impacting your business, you will gain new customers and experience revenue boost at the expense of your competitors who have not been savvy enough to embrace technology.

Here are technology changes you need to embrace if you want to manage your small business effectively:

1. Project Management and Task Management Tools

Are you still wasting time figuring out your to-dos list or organizing your work? Just don’t! Lose your sticky notes, your to-dos apps, and make way for technology to seep in to make your work more organized. The market is full of task management tools that can help you prioritize your tasks, manage your time, and meet your deadlines. If you are worried about the efficiency of your team, start making use of project management tools to delegate work, set deadlines and track tasks. Your team is sure to be efficient as well as productive.

2. Scheduling Tools

If you are finding it difficult to manually manage your appointments and meeting or interview schedules, then let technology take over.  A great way to start is to take help of computerized calendar systems like Outlook or Google Apps for Business. You can set your appointments and automatic reminders. Better still, your team can use these calendars to share updates and access their schedules.

3. Applicant Tracking System

With Applicant Tracking System, you can streamline your recruitment and hiring process. Automating the process can leave you more time to cultivate better candidate relationships and select the right fit. Some of the benefits of ATS are – Saves time, better communication & relationships, more actionable data, and better candidate experience.

4. Paperless Business Cards

Are you still carrying paper business cards? That’s so yesteryears! Business cards are now virtual. Paperless business cards are not only environmentally friendly, but they are also easier to carry, and you can have them in limitless quantity. 

5. Cloud Storage

Dropbox and Google Drive can be used to store data online. They will keep all the information secure and accessible from anywhere. Cloud storage also allows easy sharing of different files with project team members, contractors or partners.

6. Social Media

A web presence is essential to small businesses so that you are easily found online by your potential clients. This holds truer if you are into e-commerce. Making use of google analytics to optimize your website and using social media and email marketing to reach out to potential customers is good and the best way to do business.

7. Accounting Software

Do you go through a cabinet full of invoices in this time and age? With comprehensive accounting software available to streamline your finance process, you don’t need to keep a tab on invoices and purchase orders anymore. Accounting software can create these documents. Print them and sent them to your customers if you need to but the original files will be saved in your computer instead of in the filing cabinets.

8. Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is taking over the world by storm. The day is not far away when AI will be able to perform jobs which are typically known as the man’s job. Although it may sound scary, AI cannot possibly replace humans, however, it can make the man’s menial jobs easier and faster. AI automates the repetitive, menial tasks such as paperwork, timesheets, and scheduling and saves a lot of time and money, which the humans can use on something more important that essentially requires human intervention like strategy development and ideation. AI can help improve your customer service too by making use of automated chatbots that can respond to customers quicker and allowing 24/7 access to customers.

The Bottom Line…

Embracing technology is essential for the success of your small business. A large number of small businesses are now relying on technology to improve their performance, increase their team efficiency, manage their day-to-day expenses, and grow their profitability.