Technology is constantly changing the world around us. Small businesses are feeling the change, benefiting from advances in consumer and business tech to reach new heights and grow at astonishing rates. How is tech empowering small businesses today? Read on to find out more.
Technical Support That Grows With You
Every sector of the economy has an IT aspect. No office is complete with desks filled with computers and a work-based intranet for communication and file sharing. Even if you do not use a PC as part of your job, you rely on someone who does. Computers have enabled businesses to do more in less time but our reliance on them comes at a cost. When a system goes down or software stops, so does the business.
Thanks to the UK’s high-speed broadband network reliable IT support is available to businesses of any size. Totality Services offer IT support in London to a wide range of businesses across the UK and keeps them online and open for business. Small businesses with a reliable technical support team backing up can trade with confidence. They have an IT team supporting them that can expand as the company grows while maintaining the same high level of service.
Supercharged Marketing Through Social Media
Likes, shares, and comments all add up. Having a social media presence cost nothing, but a simple profile that is engaging and offers consumers value can pay dividends down the road. Small businesses have the same level of power as the biggest corporations, social media levels the marketing playing field. With a viral post or some top-tier meme-ing, any business can grab the global spotlight.
Using these apps for advertising campaigns gives you a lot of value for money too. From a small budget, you can get your business, brand, or product on the smartphone screens of consumers around the world or in your local town. If your trade is localised you can still utilise social media marketing. Geo-location lets apps know where their users are, and where they live. You can target specific demographics with social media advertising, including local users.
Big Data For Small Businesses
The digital revolution has brought the power of big data to small businesses. Data analysis tools can help any company get to know the customers better, and understand their sales. Studying consumer behaviour, identifying sales trends, and monitoring the purchase process can all help businesses to grow. The data your business generates holds information and insights that help create smarter marketing campaigns and convert enquiries into sales.
The customer data you have can be extremely useful for identifying patterns in purchasing. You can use this information to market to specific groups of your existing customers, upselling their favourite products with discounts. This data can also be useful for tying regular customers to a contract or a subscription model for their common purchases. Customer retention is key to consistent growth.
Online Training And Staff Development
Before upscaling, you need to do some upskilling. For small businesses to grow, they need staff that can grow their skills to accommodate the expansion. The level of training and staff development that huge companies have enjoyed for decades is now at the fingertips of small businesses through online learning. New staff can learn the skills they need before coming on board, and existing staff can build on their existing knowledge to reach new heights within the company.
One of the perks of online training is that it works just as well for remote workers as it does for in-house employees. No matter how your small business operates, you can use this tool to develop your workforce and train staff in new skills. It is cost-effective too, giving small businesses with small training budgets access to world-class education in a huge variety of skills, software, and business concepts.
Easy Electronic Point Of Sale And Web Payments
The switch to a cashless society is coming. The amount of purchases made by a card instead of cash increases every year and already represents over half of all purchases in the UK today. Electronic point-of-sale systems used to be expensive, and prohibitive to small-scale traders and independent stores. Taking payments over a website also used to be complicated and difficult to set up without a lot of tech help.
Now any business can easily and almost instantaneously set up a card-friendly point of sale in their store, or link up a payment system to their website. Many card readers can connect to a mobile phone to make quick, contactless payments, and online tools like Shopify can easily add payment options to your site. You can even take payments over PayPal and set up subscription services. This has opened up small businesses to modern commerce without exorbitant costs.
Technology is constantly changing the world around us, and small businesses are being changed too. It is for the better, though. Tech is empowering small businesses and giving them the tools and access that the biggest corporations used to keep for themselves. Technology has levelled the playing field and gives startups and small-to-medium-sized businesses the presence and convenience of big-name department stores.
