Since we live in a digital world, technology has become a vital part of every business. You cannot expect to run a successful business without having a social media page, website, stock management, eCommerce website, and many other things that will bring new customers to your business.
The shocking number of 50% out of all small businesses fail within the first five years has a lot to do with not accepting and upgrading new technologies. Businesses with outdated technologies cannot compete with others that anticipate and react to technology changes.
Some businesses that were technology drive made a ton of money. The Canadian-based company (Dapper Labs) made millions of dollars by developing a system using blockchain that lets you own digital art or non-fungible tokens. So, you can get CryptoKitties or some of the best players in the basketball trade rumors (learn more here) with NBA Top Shots, worth millions of dollars.
However, which technologies are the most important when running a business?
Well, in today’s article we will highlight some of the must-have technologies in your business that you need to pay close attention to.
Customer Relationship Management
Nowadays, customers should be able to get in touch with your business no matter their location. Customer relationship management is a technology that allows you to have fluent customer service digitally.
It is important to mention that customer service has slowly climbed the ladder and become one of the most important things that customers value in a business.
That’s why you need to invest in cloud-based software that can provide valuable data for you and many other benefits like increased revenue, customer retention, lead conversion, decrease marketing costs, and much more.
Your customer relationship management will also keep data of your customers which is very useful for future decisions in your business.
Payment Processing
Nowadays, you can shop anywhere you like in the world whether it is online or in physical stores just because almost all businesses support credit card processing.
To make things easier for your customers, especially if you have an eCommerce store, payment processing is very important. Fortunately, there are many payment processors that allow easy integration to your website, which means that you don’t have to do it yourself.
Nowadays, people can purchase things with tokens, credit cards, bank transfers, PayPal, even Elon Musk announced that you will be able to purchase Tesla with Bitcoin.
All of these technologies will bring new customers to your business which is why it is important to implement them in your business.
Social Media
Since everybody is using social media more than ever, it is a missed opportunity if your business isn’t represented on some of the most popular platforms. Social media is crucial for keeping close contact with your audience, and at the same time, it is one of the cheapest advertising methods that allow you to target your audience.
Social media can be used for many things such as building a brand awareness campaign, getting more clicks, or just build a relationship with your customers.
Website
Having a website is standard practice these days, but the type of website is also very important. You’ll be able to provide more information for your potential customers on your website, add specific tools, and provide a way for them to interact with your business.
A few years ago, businesses that had a website were considered “professional”, but now it is standard practice, especially since the process is very easy to do and you don’t have to be a computer expert.
You can build a professional-looking website without any coding experience by purchasing shared hosting -> installing WordPress -> adding a free theme.
Make sure your website is mobile-friendly since that is where most of your customers will come.
Final Words
These are some of the basic technologies that will allow you to digitalize your business, which is very important, especially in times like these where everyone is purchasing things online.
Many other more advanced technologies can take your business in the future, but since some of them can be really expensive, so you should digitalize your business step by step.
Remember, having a race with technology means that you’ll lose every time just because technological advancements happen very fast and sometimes it is hard to keep up.