3 Key Considerations for Updating Your Technology

The use of technology to aid our businesses is a given in the digital age that we live in, but what if you aren’t so technologically minded as to know which ones to concentrate your efforts on? The phrase spoilt for choice springs to mind, and if you are a small business, the decision as to which direction to go in falls firmly at your feet.

You need to find the easiest way for your system needs to be met, but without a headache that a change invariably provokes. You need to revolutionize your working practices and provide an almost effortless resolution to your technology headache. Here are 3 key areas to consider when being faced with the need to upgrade your technology before you invest.

Is your technology User-friendly?

If you’re struggling to understand the concept of the technology, you very may well struggle with using it. In a small and growing business, you won’t have the capacity to take time out of your schedule to spend an excessive amount of time learning the ins and outs of new systems. You need to be able to hit the ground running.

This is not to say that you don’t have the skills to master new technology, but the reality is that you need new technology to cause the minimum disruption to your customers and the service or products that you provide. As your business grows and you introduce new employees to your business, you want them to be able to grasp quickly your process and procedures, and of course the technology that supports your business.  A good example of our internal search was how we were looking for the right CRM, Project management suite and more to integrate seamlessly together and we landed on Zoho systems. We did a lot of research and one of the main focuses was “is the software user-friendly”? The reason being is you do not to spend a lot of time training your team how to use a system. That also is an additional cost.

Is it Flexible?

Previously work was very much office-based and 9-5, nowadays there is more fluidity to the working day, especially as we work across different global markets and time zones. Businesses function in a very different way these days to the way they did even as few as ten years ago, and you want to be able to adapt to any changes in the work culture that may come down the pipeline in the future. You need to think about future-proofing your technology.

You need to be able to provide the same level of productivity whether you’re sitting in your office or in a café. By having flexibility, your business will be able to rise to any challenges that come your way; perhaps you need to employ more people or collaborate with clients across the globe. Your choice of technology needs to help you achieve your business goals, and not to hamper them.

Is it Cost-effective?

You need to take many things into consideration when changing your software, and not just the initial outlay. You may need to have the users on the same versions of software or at least compatible versions, which can drive up the cost of changing systems. Initial training costs and disruptions to business need to be considered too. How many days of productivity will you lose with training and ironing out at any issues? A solution such as Office 365 uses an already familiar suite of services including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, so initial training costs and disruption to business is kept to a minimum and can take only minutes to setup. If Team is not a perfect fit there also lies Google Drive.

You need to identify what you need in your cloud services to do, but be comforted by the fact that you can easily adapt your choice should your needs change. There is no point having an all singing and all dancing system in place if you aren’t going to use it to its full capabilities. You pay for licenses on a subscription basis so that you know in advance each month what your expenditure is going to be. There is no need to spend money on the latest versions of software as you will have them automatically included in your subscription. Have a look at Bytes Office 365 FAQ to see how a cloud based service can benefit your business.

The joy of using cloud-based services in your business is that all users can work independently or collaboratively using the same version of the software. The flexible approach to technology can support you in accomplishing your business goals. You won’t be restricted. By being able to access your documents from a multitude of devices, the days of forgetting important documents for meetings, or even forgetting the meeting themselves, are all gone – you can sync your laptop, mobile, and tablet so that you have your virtual office in your pocket with capability of collaborating in real time.