Running a small company isn’t an easy task. Along with offering a top solution or product, business owners need to make a variety of decisions regarding every aspect of their company to keep their operations functioning smoothly.
“Small business owners are trying to balance the demands of daily business operations and their instinctual creative spirit,” explained Jeremy Durha, who is the senior director of strategy, portfolio, and implementation at business solution provider Paychex. The good news is that technology platforms can assist in streamlining your procedures and set you on the right path towards success.
“From payroll to software for managing workforce, the business owners can achieve more than ever before, and at a speed that is effortless,” Durham said. The trick is choosing the best solution that meets current needs as well as adapts to anticipate business requirements and expansion.
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Tips for selecting the best technology solutions
If your company is in the market for cutting-edge technology products there are some actions you can follow to help you make a decision with confidence.
Do your research
Since technology for business-tobusiness is a rapidly growing area, there are usually hundreds of companies that are eager to help you meet your business’s needs by offering their products. Be sure to take the time to write down the specifics of what you require the product to accomplish. What will it do to help your employees’ job easier, or make your product attractive to your customers? What are the biggest pain points that you have in the current process?
“With the number of technological products available selecting the best solution typically requires careful study,” Durham said.
If you’re unfamiliar with the technology you’re considering make sure you know the basics of the function of it. After that, you can compare the guides that each vendor provides to the notes you’ve made about your company’s requirements and issues. Look up trusted business publications for reviews, rankings, and lists.
Speak to your peers
If you’re looking at the use of a new technology solution for your business, reach into your network of professional entrepreneurs in similar fields. Though every company is unique but they will be able to provide you with important insights into what has worked and not been successful for their teams and the reasons. Additionally, some vendors provide referral programs. If your friends can guide you to a good product all of your businesses might reap the benefits.
Request demonstrations from vendors
Once you’ve narrowed your choices to a handful of best choices, you can schedule demonstrations by every vendor in order to have a idea of how they operate in real-world situations. Most likely, you’ll be having an initial “discovery meeting” with the vendors to ensure they can design the demonstration on the basis of your business’s needs. Before you begin the demonstrations you should collaborate with your team to devise a rubric the evaluation of each demonstration and to make a list of the questions you’d like to inquire about the company. It is best to schedule demonstrations so that only employees who make use of the software or an employee from their team will be able to be present.
Free trials are available
Along with demos, several vendors provide free trials of their products which your company can use for a couple of weeks at one time. After you’ve decided on a software that appears to be a good fit for your business then ask the company if it offers trial trials for free. In this way, you can assess whether the program is a good fit for your business’s needs and meets the needs it’s designed to solve.
Get the feedback of your employees
In the demo and trial period, you must gather as much information that you are able to from your employees. While your employees try the new technology, ask them to think about the rubric you’ve created to analyze the product. After your company has purchased new technology, it is a good idea to ask your employees to provide opinions on the implementation of the technology in team meetings or employee surveys. It’s not worth spending money on a product that doesn’t contribute to the operations of your business. If the software is a client-facing application you may also want feedback from customers about their experience through incentives for reviews.
Considerations to make when choosing the right technology solutions
To make the most of their investment, Durham advised businesses to consider the following five elements when selecting a new technology or software:
A rich user experience
Employers and owners of businesses frequently have to complete various tasks while on the move or at the spur of the moment. You can use technology to make that experience smoother by implementing a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that offers an intuitive user interface across a range of devices based on consistency, simplicity and intelligence – one that aims to drive increased user productivity and streamline the tasks at hand.
Capabilities that are evolving
In the constantly changing workplace, it’s crucial to use technology that will adapt as rapidly as your company. Cloud-based platforms are designed to provide scaling to accommodate growing customer requirements. As a company expands and is required to incorporate new services offered by a technology vendor, new features and capabilities are able to be quickly and easily implemented with minimal interruption to the business’s owner. Cloud-based platforms let the vendor handles regular system updates and ensures that the platform runs smoothly. So the business owner will remain focused on the business objectives instead of the platform.
Accessibility
One of the main advantages of the SaaS system is the fact that customers have access to it from any place anytime. This not only makes it simpler businesses owners accomplish whatever they require and when they need to, but it also lets them to give secure access to partners and employees using their personal devices. Mobile solutions also allow entrepreneurs to oversee their companies they’re on the move. Additionally, adjustable desktops are able to help design user-friendly actions and workflows that can be used for increased productivity.
Security
In the case of a business’s financial information or employees’ personal identifiable details, or other private information security is a major concern for the business’s owners. A lot of times, businesses’ information is better secured through the form of an SaaS solution than traditional software. SaaS providers take extra precautions to ensure their customers their data secure, and they have access to top-rated information centers and technology that the majority of small and mid-sized business owners don’t have.
Customer service
The relationship between the vendor and client can be the difference between success or failure of the SaaS platform. Your team will undoubtedly be unsure about the software throughout the process of implementation and also during the day-to-day use of the tool and it’s recommended to study the service offerings of vendors to ensure that live support is available whenever you require it.
Technology solutions can take your company up to where it needs to be.
In the end, selecting the right software for your company will require you to be aware of your clients’ requirements and the everyday activities of your employees as well as the overall goals of your business. It is important to ensure that any technological solutions you choose to implement are in harmony with the existing processes.
When your company expands and expands, ensure that your technology solutions are able to help ease problems, and not merely add more. A constant attitude of improvement that you bring to your business can help make sure your tools remain an ideal fit. Once you’ve used technology to improve your workflow and get over operational obstacles and obstacles, your company will be able to grow.
