With today’s ever-growing competitive forces drawing up their battle lines, you need to make sure you have an arsenal of tech weapons that help you offensively and defensively, both protecting your assets and growing your army. Here are seven things that you should have in your tech arsenal:
Collaboration and communication tools
Many companies are discovering the benefits of an all or part virtual team. These freelancers or flex employees are often remote and, while very useful and talented, need to feel like part of the team in order to truly unleash what they are capable of doing for the organization. That calls for some collaboration and communication tools in your tech arsenals like Slack, Skype, Basecamp and more. Having these tech tools also means you can consider expanding your talent search to more of these virtual staff members, reducing operational costs while adding significant capabilities to the core team.
Marketing automation tools
When you opt for marketing automation platforms and software over the fees that come with having a marketing agency on your bottom line, you might find that you can actually get more results by spending less money. This provides a very necessary competitive advantage, especially when you can complete so many more marketing tasks in a shorter time. Look for tools like HubSpot, which handles CRM, website optimization, and funnel management all within one platform. Other options for CRM include Salesforce and Insightly, which also offer various types of tools to enhance the customer experience.
App development
With more customers opting to use their smartphones for all aspects of business and their life, it’s important to meet them halfway by offering an app that gives them the power to do more. Companies like Appy Pie provide a way for a business to create an app for all types of mobile devices even if they are non-technically minded. Of course, you can also hire a freelance developer to help you determine how and what type of app can provide your audience with what they need to make their lives easier.
Digital billing and payment tools
Online invoicing and digital payment tools are a very necessary addition to your tech arsenal because more business is being conducted online through retail websites and a more globalized business environment. Having online invoicing capability speeds payment and can tie together so many manual processes to save time. Additionally, more consumers and businesses are interested in alternative payment methods that involve eCash, eChecks, digital wallets, and cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. These new payment methods are allowing more people around the world the opportunity to conduct transactions online, expanding the size of your audience and creating new revenue streams.
Inventory management tools
For more retail-focused businesses, knowing what is in your inventory and being able to tie this together with promotional campaigns works as a powerful weapon against the competition because you can beat them with more of the right product available and deliver at a faster rate. Companies like Wasp Barcode Technologies and Fishbowl Inventory help businesses automate their inventory management systems, reducing unaccounted for stock and provides current information on available stock levels for better decision making and budget controls.
Internet of Things tools
The Internet of Things (IoT) is not a passing tech trend but it is here to stay, forever changing how we exchange data between businesses and their audiences. IoT technology provides a way to help customers with making better decisions, but it also delivers a stream of data that helps companies identify behaviors of use and patterns that can improve how future products are developed. Even connecting devices within a business can offer better information on how energy is being consumed so that companies can change their habits and become more environmentally aware while saving money.
Analytics tools create new levels of business intelligence
The availability of Big Data means there is so much more to work with when making critical decisions about strategy, marketing messages, branding attributes and more. That data can make more sense when you have analytics tools in your arsenal, which can simplify the data into segments offering patterns that essentially tell you what you need to do next. By seeing what you need to do will improve your battle strategy and put you on the offensive to win customers faster than your competition.
All of these tech tools are very necessary to create a strategy to continually win the war against the competition. Many are free or very low cost, making your arsenal an affordable and smart way to shape your business strategy and operations going forward no matter what size business you operate.
(Sourced from Angela Ruth via www.business.com)