Ancient Technology Your Competitors Are Still Using
Having the most up-to-date technology is rapidly becoming one of the most important parts of running a successful business. For many companies, though, using these modern systems on a daily basis remains an elusive dream, citing cost, time and disruption as the main reasons for not upgrading their internal tech.
For this reason, many experts recommend taking advantage of this technological laziness by upgrading your own business’ daily operational systems, allowing you to provide everything from the best sales and customer service to the most reliable security for both your external communication and your physical business.
Below are a few choice pieces of office tech that you can upgrade today to give your employees and your business a leg-up against the competition.
Rolodex
It might not seem possible, but many businesses today still use the Rolodex. An ancient piece of office tech that many younger employees might not recognize (though some argue it could be next big thing for the hip millennial), the Rolodex is still a preferred method of contact management for salespeople and account managers around the U.S.
If you find that you and your colleagues are still rocking the Rolodex, we recommend taking a moment to invest in a quality customer relationship management system that can provide quality customer management that leaves the stacks of business cards at home.
Fax Machines
The fax machine is yet another surprisingly old-fashioned bit of tech that offices still insist on using. A big reason for this is information security, with many business owners trusting the security of a standard fax line over more modern methods like email.
However, with the advent highly secure cloud-based systems that store information on separate off-site servers, the fax machine should be high on your list of old technology to throw out in 2018.
Cloudless Call Center Systems
Call centers remain a very important part of many medium-to-large businesses that need a reliable contact center system to expertly handle customer communication. A large portion of these businesses, however, are still using call center software that has not been updated with the latest technology, specifically the cloud.
Due to this, these companies are taking a big chance when it comes to customer service, as these older systems don’t provide the level of detail and support necessary when handling a large volume of customer calls.
Cloud content centers offer high-tech features like analytics and quality management that help keep customers happy, while also keeping costs down, as they don’t require clunky on-site hardware that can cost time and money to install and maintain.
Keycards
When it comes to dated technology, a majority of the working world will still be very familiar with the ubiquitous keycard. This type of security access was the epitome of high-tech gear when it debuted in the late 1970s. Now though, the keycard should be excised in favor of the much more highly secure biometric technology.
Using everything from an employee’s fingerprint to the shape of their eye, biometric security replaces the need for old-school keycards that can be expensive to buy and maintain, and are easily lost by forgetful employees.
As technology continues to grow and develop, it’s vital that companies keep up with these changes, even if it might seem like a work and cost in the beginning. Investing time, money and training into these and other high-tech systems will ultimately put you ahead of your biggest competitors, while also putting you at the top of your industry and at the top of your customers’ minds.
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