Every good business owner knows that technology is a great asset to their company. But it’s not the easy fix that some people think it is. If you know how to use technology effectively, it can help you to improve efficiency but if you get it wrong, it’ll just slow things down for your staff and have the opposite effect. A lot of new businesses end up making simple mistakes with their technology that have a negative impact on their business rather than making things easier for them. Is your small business making these basic technology mistakes?
Using Outdated Software
Technology moves fast and things become obsolete in a matter of months. If you’re using outdated technology then you aren’t going to be able to offer the same level of service that your competitors are if they’re using the latest software. This is especially important if you’re using it for vital areas of your business like accounting. The reason that a lot of businesses end up using outdated software is that they’re trying to save money. But if you consider the impact that it has on your productivity and your profits, you’re not saving yourself any money. You’re just making things harder for your employees and losing money. That’s why you should always pay for software updates when they’re necessary, even if you think that it’s a waste of money.
Poorly Built Software
A good IT team can write software for your company to streamline and automate systems so life is a lot easier for your employees. This will increase their productivity and allow them to offer a much better service to your customers. But only if that software is built properly. If it’s built poorly, it’ll have the opposite effect. One easy way to avoid this is through testing. Before you roll something out to your employees, use automated performance testing to iron out all of the bugs. Then you can make sure that everything is running smoothly for your staff when you introduce the new software.
Lack Of Training
Even if you’ve performance tested your software and everything is working perfectly, that doesn’t mean your employees are going to see the benefits right away. They need to know how to use it properly first, that’s why training is so important. It’s not enough to just roll out updated software, you need to give extensive training in it as well. If you don’t, your employees won’t get the most out of it and it will be a wasted effort.
Buying Cheap Equipment
This is another big mistake that new businesses make when they’re trying to cut costs. Computer hardware is expensive but it costs that much for a reason. There are cheaper options out there but they’re likely to crash all of the time and they’ll break after a couple of years. Then you’ll be stuck replacing it all again so you’re not actually saving money. When you’re buying computers for the office, it’s far better to pay once for quality than it is to keep replacing cheap stuff.
Technology is such a great tool for your business as long as you avoid these simple mistakes.
Collaborative post.
