Gaining a Competitive Edge with Technology

While technology constantly evolves in the business world, it’s customers and profit that will always remain bottom line indicators for a successful company. Here are some new ways technology has helped streamline traditional business practices as we know them today.

Mobilizing the Supply Chain

Cloud-based technology allows companies, big and small, to mobilize their supply chain. From inventory to customer care, you can now put it all on the cloud. At its inception, the cloud platform provided an unprecedented new way to store — and access — everyday business tools and intelligence. But the technology continues to evolve, including the addition of various SaaS components that allow users to access and perform tasks from anywhere. Today, SaaS functionality is most widely used for customer care purposes, which allows businesses to have a more robust and always-on customer service department without incurring extra staffing costs.

Marketing at Your Fingertips

Social media has changed the way companies market to customers and prospects. Call it traditional word-of-mouth marketing on steroids, as the power of the Internet allows for conversations to amplified in a big way — and be shared endlessly. Deciding which social platforms to adopt and use in the long term can be difficult. Platforms like Hootsuite can save you a lot of time and make your other day-to-day affairs easier to manage, as the online application allows you to schedule social media posts days in advance and on multiple channels.

Simplifying Team Management

Whether you’re a sole proprietor or the CEO of a small business, you’ll eventually hire or count on others as your business grows. At some point, you’ll need a team to help you get through the next big project. Technology has come a long way to make project management more seamless. One of the best project management tools for business teams is Asana. The platform allows users to create tasks, upload projects, develop communication around each task, and hold meetings via chat or video.

Making Accounting Easier

Financial statements offer more than a list of numbers on a piece of paper. From these statements, company leaders can gain a clearer snapshot of the business in order to better manage day-to-day affairs and decide on potential next steps. For small businesses, conducting accurate and effective accounting can be time consuming. However, Sage’s cloud-based accounting software makes your life a little easier, as its business intelligence tools, including financial statements, can be accessed from anywhere.

Handling Your Extra Income

Ultimately, you want to make a profit in business. What you do with this profit may be the difference between success and stagnation. Most Fortune 500 companies invest a portion of their earnings, making the money work for them. Use Morningstar to manage and track your company’s investments so that they are creating revenue without taking up a lot of your time.