Small businesses often have too much to do and far too little time. So how do you make sense of all the technologies available to you, while deciding what will really help your business? Here’s the lowdown on the tech small businesses get the most value from.
Small business is big business in the United States. An incredible 99% of all businesses are small businesses, and they employ almost 50% of the country’s total workforce. Crucial for the economy and creating a community feeling, small businesses are truly mighty.
One of the downsides for small business owners is that they have to become experts in many different things. Even for companies that aren’t particularly technical, technology itself can bring many benefits. This can be both in terms of aiding slicker internal working, and becoming more effective as a business for customers.
With so many technological inventions and solutions out there, it can be hard to know where to begin. So here are some of the top pieces of tech that many everyday small businesses cannot live without.
1. Inventory Management Software
For those whose businesses are product based, managing the inventory is something that takes up hours of time each week. However, there are several cloud-based inventory management software solutions out there to help manage this. It’s just as useful for a typical Mom and Pop store as it is for an internet retailer. For the latter, much of the software can also integrate order management, fulfilment and customer service too.
2. File Sharing
Many small businesses feel worried about investing a lot of money in cleverly connected computer networks, particularly if some employees work remotely. Online file sharing facilities such as Dropbox or Google Drive are cheap and safe solutions. It means all employees can save files to these systems and access all the files they collectively need to see. These platforms are also great for storing large image files, such as photos and videos that might be used for social media promotion.
3. QR Code Generator
Useful for a huge variety of purposes, QR codes are simple pieces of technology that many small businesses are reaping the benefits of. QR codes can be used for virtual business cards and phone numbers, for social media posts, in physical stores to help customers find out more information about a product, or in restaurants for diners to pull up a virtual menu. It is easy to use a free QR code generator and make more areas of a small business effective and efficient.
4. Online Security Measures
Cybersecurity threats are increasingly the most problematic threats small business are facing. In fact, most people in the United States have been the victim of some form of cybersecurity breach. If a particularly effective piece of malware makes it onto the computer of just one small business employee, the consequences can be huge and very expensive. One area of technology worth investing in is good malware protection. To complement this, small business should also have robust back-up technology in place, ensuring that any breach of online security doesn’t have consequences that are too damaging.
5. Project Management Software
There are many apps and pieces of software out there all claiming to make your work life easier. If you go for just one type of software, make it a project management one. Trello is very popular among businesses of all sizes, as is Basecamp. In an increasingly digital world, a project management platform is a great way to keep track of projects that multiple individuals are involved in. It also helps free up your inbox, as everything from conversations to files can be organized on a project management platform, keeping everything neatly in one place.
6. Synced Calendars
It’s one of the simplest digital ways to organize yourself and understand what your colleagues’ movements are. Calendars that can sync, such as Google Calendars, mean all employees can easily see availability to arrange meetings, and keep track of all employees’ work schedules. Many small businesses have said it saved them so much time once they moved everyone over to a simple online calendar solution like this.
7. Mobile Broadband
A lot of technology questions for small businesses focus on apps and software that help people work more effectively from their computers. The connectivity to the internet on computers is often an afterthought. Yet a huge 93% of Americans have had an interruption to their internet connection at some point in the last year. For small businesses, the impact of the Wi-Fi being down can be huge.
A brilliant investment in any small business is to buy mobile broadband USB devices for the whole team. These devices can be slotted into any computer to provide internet connectivity via 4G or 5G mobile, instead of Wi-Fi. This is almost always a reliable way to get connected, and so can be a lifesaver for those times when the Wi-Fi fails.