Strategic Advantages of New Technology for Businesses

New technology for business is emerging and many well established businesses are taking advantage of this new technology for business. For your business to succeed and gain competitive advantage, you need to drop old out-aged technologies for business and implement new technologies which will make your services better. Businesses use technology in many different ways, before you invest money in any business technology, i advice you to define the needs of your business, plan well for this new technology so that your Return on Investment (RIO) shows positive results.

So, what is the use of new technology in business?  Technology is used to improve communication in a business, it can also be used to improve production, improve customer care, innovation, and facilitate quick decision making, marketing, and so much more. Below I have listed of advantages of New Technology for Business.

1. Create Barriers of Entry: For every business to succeed, it has to have a certain degree of uniqueness so that new entrants find it difficult out-compete that business. Business owners need to hunt for new business technologies which can make their services and products superior in the market. I can’t outline which new business technologies you should employ, because every business has its own need for technology and the types of technology used in every business differ. Creating an entry barrier while using new technology will help your business grow rapidly and you will make lots of profits because competition will be less. The best way to use new business technology to create entry barrier, is to create new products or services demanded by the market and improve customer service. Make sure that you know what your customers need, then deliver services or products when they need them.  See new technology for business  you can use to create entry barrier for your business.

Business technology you can use to create entry barriers:

• Salesforce:

You can easily grow your business and make it look unique using salesforce applications. Yes, any one can afford to use salesforce.com technology, but its implementation will make you look unique. Salesforce application will improve your customer service department , it will supercharge your sales using an advance Customer Relationship management application, you will also be in position to engage with customers everywhere using advanced social marketing tools. Salesforce.com provides you with especial business tools and it will be your responsibility to use those tools to create entry barrier. Remember, I told you that the best way of creating entry barrier for your business, is to create the best customer service department. Have a look at companies like ZAPPOS.COM / AMAZON.COM , they have gained competitive advantage through providing first class customer service, because they know, that it is easy to buy advanced business technology, but it is not easy to serve clients on time. Learn more here 

• Oracle:

Oracle provides many technological solutions which any business can use to create entry barriers. Oracle technologies are designed to address complex issues which include security, cloud computing, and consolidation. These complex technologies can be used by any business to facilitate innovation in a business. The best way of creating entry barriers in any market is by being number one at innovation. People like new things all the time, so know what they need and provide it in time.  Other essential services provided by oracle include ; Customer relationship management, supply chain management , social relationship management , Enterprise Content Management ,Human Capital Management , Project Portfolio Management and so much more, learn more about oracle business solutions here 

• LINUX:

To protect your business from entry barrier, you need to use technologies which protect your information. Linux is among the best computer operating systems you can use in your business. It is quite safe from Data hackers and virus. Data hackers can be hired by your competitor to steal your sensitive business information stored on your machines; this can include supplier contacts or customer contacts. It is not 100% hacker safe, but it is better than most computer operating systems. Learn more about how Linux works here 

1. Promote Innovation: Businesses are using new business technologies to support innovation at workplace. New technologies like ”The Idea Startup ” can be used by any business to boots creativity in a business. ”The idea Startup ” can be used to launch business plans; this online platform is a brainstorming platform for creating and planning for new business ideas. Every successful business is based on ideas. As a small business owner, you need to create and test various business ideas, some will work out and some will fail, but you can only succeed through testing different things. Technology can allow you to test ideas as beta versions and get customer response and suggestions; this information will help you tailor a product or service basing on customer’s needs. Learn more about ”The Idea Startup here (www.LaunchPlan.com)

Business technology for promoting innovation:

• LivePlan

Every business depends on well structured business plans, let your employees use Liveplan.com to brain storm and create new business ideas. To encourage this spirit of innovation at work, you can give away gifts and promotions to employees who come up with creative business plans which can help your business expand. Learn more here

• ·         Join.me

If you want to promote innovation and team work amongst your employees, try Join.me. It is a simple screen sharing application which can be used to share projects during development stage. Employees can collaborate at any time and share ideas, through sharing and discussing about a specific task, new ideas will pop-up. Try it today here: (www.join.me)

1. Reduce Operational Costs: Some times employing this new business technology can be expensive, but in the long run you will save lots of cash. Technology can be used to automate various business activities and this will save you the money you have been spending on human labor. Technology can be used to ease communication, for example, you can used video conferencing tools like skype to hold a business meeting with your employees or suppliers, this will save you time, because you don’t need to travel and attend meetings. The good thing about services like skype, is that you can use them for free, so this cuts out expenses on international phones calls. Learn more [ Best Virtual Meeting Technologies ]

Business technology for cutting operational costs:

• ·         Scandock

It is time you reduce on business costs and do things in a modern way but at an affordable cost. Forget about those expensive scanners which consume lots of power, try out this post-Pc scanner for smartphones. It is simple and easy-to-use. This Scandock printer will print anything from your Smartphone in any resolution or color. Buy Scandock post-PC printer from here ; 

GoDaddy

Establishing a business online has become more affordable than before. With technological companies like GoDaddy.com, you can easily register your business domain for as low as $10 , then get cheap hosting of around $4.95 per month. In your hosting account, you will also find website building tools which you can use to build a simple or complex business website. So do not waste money on expensive website hosting services, try out  www.godaddy.com

hootsuite.com

Social media marketing has never been easy to manage. If you don’t use clever tools to manage all your social media campaigns, you will end up spending to much money. Save money on social media marketing by tracking all your social media campaigns under one account. Try out www.hootsuite.com

1. Improve Customer Care: We talked about creating business entry barriers; the best way to block competition is through improving customer service. No matter which technology you employ, any one with money will be in position to afford that technology, but they can not buy customer care. Use new business technology in your business to improve customer care. Some of the ways you can do this include; (1) Use online survey tools to know what your customers need. (2) Interact and socialize with your customers, this will strengthen your relationship with your customers. To socialize with your customers will help you know what they need; in this case, you can create a business page on social networks like ”Facebook & Twitter”. (3) Reply to customers needs on time. (4) Give away free coupons online using social shopping sites like Pinterest.com. { Use of technology to improve customer care]

Business technology for improving customer care:

BatchBook

Just like any other relationship, people need time, spend more time with them and get to know what they want. Use Batchbook to stay in touch with your customers. Batchbook works as a social Customer relationship management platform which you can use to build a strong relationship with your customers. Try out Batchbook and see of it can be of great effect to your business.

1. Gain Competitive Advantage: If new technology is well planned for and implemented in the correct manner, a business will gain a certain degree of competitive advantage. Competition is healthy in business, but you have to be the best, let others struggle to compete with you. New technology can enable small businesses compete with big well established business. Lets take a simple example of social networking technology, it does not matter if your company is big or small to benefit from social network traffic. For your small business to get lots of followers on any social network, you will need to hire a social network marketing expert, which is not that expensive, the more followers you get, the more customers you will get, because these followers will get instant feeds about your services or products, if they like the services or product they will place orders.

Business technology you can use to gain competitive advantage:

• ·         Meetup.com

Meetup.com is an advanced social network which connects people with the same interests. We have social networks like Facebook and Twitter, but non of those two social networks will enable you meet people interested in your services or products. You can use Meetup.com to meet your customers and discuss about ways to improve your product or services. You can also use this chance to create a real relationship with your customers. Give it a try and see how it works. Visit www.meetup.com

• ·         Mail Chimp:

After building a big customer database, you will have to contact them in case you have a product or service promotion. Email marketing is still an effective marketing tool, though it has to be based on targeted groups with interest in a specific product or service. MailChimp has custom well built HTML templates you can use to create sales news letters and offers to keep your customers engaged. If you offer special discounts to your active customers, they will feel cared for and they will stay loyal to your business. Simply build a list of customers, compose the message and send it at once. Try out MailChimp here 

1. Secure Business Data: Your business data and information has to be kept in a secure place, just in case a disaster hits your business, your data will be safe. New big data services are emerging on the market. Some of these big data services have free trail versions for small businesses, so you can use them for free. You can try Business Intelligence applications like ”Sisense.com”, this online application works as business intelligence software which can help small businesses manage information inform of statistics, this information can be used to measure business growth. You can also use cloud storage services like Box.com & Dropbox.com to save and secure all your business data.

Business technology for keeping your data safe:

iTwin SecureBox

Cloud storage services like Box.com and Dropbox.com have become so popular, but the more popular they become, the more insecure they get. So this new device will upload your business data on top cloud storage service when it is encrypted. Once your data is encrypted, no one can read it when they hack the data storage service. This device will ensure your business data stays safe. Buy it from: itwin.com

1. Marketing: Both small and big businesses can use new technology to improve on their marketing strategies. You don’t need to spend too much money to reach targeted markets, simply use new technologies like social networks and sms marketing to reach targeted markets. Social networks have proved to be the best advertising Medias for both small and big businesses. You can simply create a brand awareness campaign with a small budget of $100 – $1000 on Facebook or Twitter. Brand awareness is very important for every business, its impacts are never immediate, but in the long run, the business will start seeing positive returns when their data base of fans and followers expands.

Business technology for marketing your business:

Facebook

If you want to reach targeted consumers at an affordable cost, try using facebook marketing for small business. With this system, you can start with a small budget of around $100 – $1000, select your target market. This means your advert will be seen by people interested in your services. It is better to start with a small budget and create various campaigns so that you know which campaign works better. To start advertising on facebook, you need to have a facebook business page , create one from here