How Can Technology Improve Your Business?

Over the past few years, there has been a huge shift in the way that businesses work, from hybrid working styles to consumers expecting more from customer service. Luckily, technology has been changing rapidly alongside this, and there are many ways that you can use technology to improve your business, both for your customers and your employees.

Increase Productivity

Technology can make your business more efficient and in turn, increase productivity. There is a range of custom software developments that can help businesses analyze how employees spend their time. From this, employers can look into how they can make these processes more efficient to reduce time being wasted on tasks that could easily be automated. For example, if your staff find that they are spending a large amount of time replying to emails, you could look to implement an automated process that can do this for them. 

Similarly, technology can help to keep your business organized which reduces time being wasted searching through spreadsheets for information. Investing in software that makes adding and accessing data easy will allow employees to spend time more productively.

Improve HR Systems

Introducing an automated payroll system makes your HMRC payroll processes more accurate and reduces the risk of costly human errors that can occur. For those who work in HR, inputting payroll information is a repetitive task, which has been widely found to make errors more likely. As such, automated systems are more reliable and allow your employees to stay stimulated and spend more time on other areas of their job role.

The systems can also identify fraudulent activity, both internally and externally, from employers allowing too much overtime to employees taking too much sick leave, as well as making tax calculation easier. This reduces the stress of running your own business, so can be a good investment for both small and large companies.

Boost Communication

Keeping employees engaged can be difficult, particularly during long meetings that require a lot of listening. Rather than talking to your staff, you may look to implement interactive touchscreens in boardrooms that encourage everyone to contribute to the meeting and get involved. Improved teamwork and communication are not only good for morale but also can help to increase sales as a staff is actively engaged and retain the information being presented.

Provide Better Customer Service

In today’s world, customer service is more important than ever, with 95% of leaders noting good customer service as a top strategic priority. One of the main factors that consumers are focused on is ‘resolution time’, meaning that resolving queries quickly is one of the best ways to ensure a positive customer experience. With technology, customers can chat with support bots (technology artificial intelligence), which results in a quick response time to common queries and problems, as well as track and place online orders. This increases the likelihood of a customer using your service again or recommending your business to others.

Improve Flexibility

Since the COVID-19 Pandemic hybrid working has become the norm, with 77% of UK employees wanting a mix of face-to-face and remote working. This could make communication more difficult and means that increased flexibility is needed day-to-day. 

There are now a plethora of apps and web-conferencing tools that can keep teammates in touch throughout the day, whether in the office or working remotely which can ensure issues can be dealt with quickly and easily. Using online apps allows colleagues from a range of teams to communicate and reduces the stress of trying to arrange face-to-face meetings while boosting morale, as staff has more control over their home/life balance.

Marketing

Businesses that have the technological capacity to continually research new opportunities will stay one step ahead of their competition. Customer needs are constantly evolving and businesses must do the same if they want to survive. The internet allows businesses to grow and acquire new opportunities, from supplying to new markets to offering new products, which allows new customers to be reached and can increase revenue.

This insight can be utilized by marketing professionals who can analyze and manipulate data to ensure they are targeting people who are likely to use their product. Technology allows a business to understand the demographic, preferences and purchasing history of different groups or individuals, meaning that their marketing can be targeted. This can be seen in many forms such as in social media marketing campaigns or television advertisements that can be targeted toward specific age groups or genders.