Businesses in the Digital Era: Are You Using the Internet to its Full Potential?
Technology has always been instrumental in daily life. As it has progressed, it has permeated more and more aspects of society. Essentially, technology is driven by necessity and innovation, as is almost every industry in the business sphere. Most businesses today are already using technology in one form or another, but the question is, are they using it properly? Tech and the internet can really be transformative for your business and play a vital role in its success. Read on to learn more.
Marketing In The Digital Space
Marketing is vital to the success of any business; it is integral to its very survival. However, a lot of businesses have an underwhelming digital presence, whether this is through a lack of knowledge and expertise or simply an oversight. A poor digital presence can kill a start-up or even lead to the slow death of an established and once-successful older business. Online marketing is key for any business operating today, and luckily, with the right strategies, it can also be relatively inexpensive, ensuring that you get the biggest bang for your buck.
Now, developing solid digital marketing strategies is not necessarily easy, especially for those with no prior experience in the digital scape. A part of developing the strategies is looking for ways to measure the success of the different approaches too. Now, this can be learnt through trial and error, but not every business has the time to do this. This is why it might be worth taking a course and doing everything you can to learn more; for example, the University of Cape Town’s Faculty of Commerce has a number of courses which can prove pivotal for your business.
At the very least, you need to have a website; if you have no other social media presence, ideally, you should have both. Your website needs to be well-designed to ensure that it is easily used by consumers, and mobile optimisation is also recommended. Creating social media accounts also means that you can take advantage of the platform’s marketing tools, most of which are relatively cheap or even free to use and can help you to grow your consumer base quickly.
Software To Aid Business Operations
Business growth is arguably one of the biggest aims for any business operating today, and in order to achieve this growth, several elements need to come together, such as stellar customer service, impeccable cost management, marketing and communications. Luckily, technology can be used to improve all of these factions. Obviously, driving productivity by ensuring efficiency is key. Ensuring integration between the different departments can be done using technology and really help to remove the time lags.
There are pieces of software and technology that can be used to transform your business processes. Think about the way in which the business operates currently. Are all the processes currently in place encouraging the business to work to maximum efficiency? The scope of the technology designed for and available to business owners has increased in recent years and continues to do so. There are a number of things that could prove to be invaluable to your business; obviously, you will need to take into account the specificities of your business.
Mobilise Your Workforce
Today’s modern workforce isn’t limited by location. More and more businesses are adopting a more flexible approach to working and seeing the benefits of doing so. However, in order to ensure that you can also meet the evolving demands of your workforce, you need to think about how you can mobilise them and empower them to work remotely. Mobile technologies are incredibly helpful to this end.
Whilst mobile technology will likely constitute an initial upfront investment, it can help to save the business money in utilities and facilities management. In addition to the benefits to the business, there are also benefits to the employees too. As part of your mobile technologies, you will also need to ensure that you have solid communicative and information-sharing technologies at your service too. Your staff can then share documents and anything else they might need without having to occupy the same space physically.
Final Thoughts
Ensuring that your business is seen and accessible to your consumers is key, and embracing digital technologies can help you to do this. However, curating a digital presence can be a double-edged sword as the interest around your business grows, the spotlight can get brighter, and without due diligence, your business could be affected by mass negative public sentiment. Use your business’s platform to communicate its morals and beliefs; this can help you gain more customers too. Investing in technology is arguably no longer a choice. You need to start embracing the digital age. The above offers a great starting point for businesses, so be sure to keep them in mind when exploring your business’s digital potential.
