Consumers are becoming more technologically focused, doing everything from making purchases online to staying connected with family and friends on social media to hauling their mobile phones, tablets, and laptops everywhere with them.
Successful businesses recognize that if their customers are embracing technology, they should too. Small businesses, in particular, are using a variety of innovative technologies to boost operational efficiency and expand their companies.
If you’re looking for direction on which technologies to implement in your small business to simplify operations, grow your company, and remain competitive in your industry, this article is for you.
E-Commerce and Online Presence Optimization
Retail e-commerce sales are expected to grow to over 1 trillion dollars by 2025. In addition, almost 65% of the global population uses the Internet, and 60% are social media users.
You’d be wise to prioritize growing an e-commerce and online presence for your small business, considering the statistics above. How quickly you build a strong online and e-commerce presence depends largely on the tools you use to optimize both.
You need a reputable e-commerce platform first. You can choose one that can be added to your existing site as a plug-in, where you would have basic point-of-sale (POS) capabilities to accept payments for product sales.
Or, you can implement an all-in-one e-commerce platform where you can build a functional, visually-pleasing website for your business, integrate e-commerce data from your other platforms, sell products, manage inventory, shipping, and all else that comes with selling online.
As far as the rest of your online presence, the technology you use depends on the online channels you’re on. For example, let’s say you’re on social media and have an email list.
In that case, you would need a social media management platform that allows you to manage all of your social media profiles on one platform for maximum efficiency. You would also need an email marketing platform that streamlines email creation and sending, and tracking of your strategy’s performance.
Ultimately, the technology you use to optimize your e-commerce and online presence should be easy to use and aligned with the online channels you’re business is on.
Data Analytics and Business Intelligence
Even the smallest businesses collect significant amounts of data, whether through their website and social media analytics, customer feedback, or other business systems. And they use it to inform business decisions moving forward to ensure what they do actually gets results.
The hard part of data collection and analysis is how huge the datasets are. They can be difficult to get through and pull meaningful insights from without the right data analytics tools.
Start with simple data analytics solutions, like Google Analytics for your website and the built-in analytics tools on your social media, email, and other digital marketing platforms.
As you become more adept at gathering and analyzing data, or you hire a data specialist to help out, consider implementing a third-party data analytics tool that allows you to keep all of your business data in a central location for easier management.
IoT Integration for Enhanced Operations
IoT technology describes a network of devices with sensors and software embedded in them that allow them to communicate with one another through the internet. ATMs, fitness trackers, and voice assistants like Alexa are examples of IoT devices we use every day.
You can harness the power of IoT technology in your small business too.
For example, you can install smart sensors in your office to keep track of temperature and lighting to lower monthly expenses. Or, you can streamline retail transactions with handheld POS devices, while also collecting customer purchasing data in real-time that helps you make quick adjustments to inventory.
To get started with IoT technology, you first need to audit your processes to see which can be automated or outsourced to an IoT device. Also, determine where you need deeper insights and how IoT tech could give you a leg up on the competition.
After that, work with a communications partner that provides IoT devices to small businesses to ensure implementing these devices is cost-effective and appropriate for your operation.
Harnessing the Power of AI and Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning are making waves in the business world.
AI describes the general capability of machines to mimic human behaviors and perform repetitive tasks without human intervention. Machine learning refers to the technologies used to teach algorithms and systems to identify patterns and learn from data so that devices can perform tasks.
You can rely on AI tools and machine learning technology to take over repetitive tasks in your business that can be time-consuming, such as data entry or publishing social media posts. In addition, AI tools collect massive amounts of data that you can use to personalize customer experiences and make data-driven decisions in other parts of your business.
Various AI tools are available to help streamline operations in nearly all of your small business departments, whether marketing, sales, or warehouse operations. So, a thorough audit of all of business processes in each department is necessary to pinpoint which would benefit from an AI solution.
It’s also important to navigate the ethical concerns associated with using AI-powered tools. For example, there’s a huge chance of your AI tools producing biased or discriminatory outcomes if they’re trained on data sets that exhibit biases and societal prejudices. It’s also hard to understand how AI tools arrive at decisions because they lack transparency.
In understanding why the ethics of AI is questioned, you’ll also come across solutions for responsibly and effectively implementing these tools, such as establishing detailed data governance policies and protecting customer data at all costs.
Conclusion
It’s not likely your small business will be successful long-term without technology. You must keep up with your customers and competition fully immersing themselves in the digital world. Start with these modern technologies to facilitate growth and operational efficiency in your small business.