by Types of Technology That Can Help Your Business
Technology is important to all industries. It doesn’t matter if you’re manufacturing things or offering a service, at some point, you’ll need to bring technology into the mix. But what technology can specifically help your business? Not all types of tech are worth investing in, or worth the time and money, so here are some that might be particularly useful to a small business.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing utilizes tech to bring in new customers. It’s a lot like traditional marketing, only the methods used are based around technology, rather than things like print or TV. Most people now make their purchasing decisions based on things they’ve seen online or on social media, so your business should be taking advantage of this change.
There are lots of methods of digital marketing that can boost your business, but one of the most important is CRO – conversion rate optimization. When you work with conversion rate optimization specialists, they’ll take a long look at your website and test all its functions, and tell you how you can convert visitors into customers. There can often be things that put off visitors to your site, from poor design to an inefficient checkout process, so using CRO can help you get a better conversion rate.
Improved cybersecurity
In the past few months, there have been a lot of big stories about companies being the victims of hacking or cyberattacks that have knocked them offline. There are a lot of reasons why companies need to take cybersecurity seriously:
- An attack can mean terrible PR – some businesses have folded because customers have lost their trust due to having details stolen
- Cyber attacks can often mean downtime, which loses you money
- You could potentially be in legal trouble for a cyberattack if you knew of a weakness and did nothing, and then customers lost their data
- Some customers are even beginning to sue firms who’ve suffered data breaches
However, as hacks become more advanced, so does the technology to deal with them. For example, using data driven cybersecurity is a way to predict and prevent cyberattacks, making them a lot less likely and ensuring your businesses’ reputation remains intact. It’s worth the investment to avoid the clean-up that comes from this kind of attack.
Big data
In addition to helping with cybersecurity, big data can be used to your advantage to help you study customer behavior and what kinds of advertising are effective. For example, if you place ads on social media, you can look at the analytical data as to how much your adverts are interacted with. From the amount of people who click on your advert, to how long they watch your videos, you can find out a lot about how well your adverts work.
Online shopping
You may feel that your business is too small to offer online shopping, and that it’ll be too much of a hassle. But it’s easier than ever for even tiny, niche businesses to have their own shop. There are loads of platforms that allow you to set up a shop using a simple template, and you can then start taking orders straight away. If you’re unsure, consider working with professionals to build your shop and ensure it works well.
The best thing about finally getting your business online? There’s lots of help out there to help you do so. The Canada Digital Adoption Program offers microgrants to help small businesses move into e-commerce, and even offers free advice from business specialists. They also offer grants to help businesses improve their technology, so it’s worth looking into if you’re a small business and unsure how you can afford to go digital.
We all know the importance of technology in business, but it’s worth remembering that not all technology is equally as useful. It’s worth considering your core business and what will really benefit your business. Whether it’s preventing downtime, making you more efficient, or giving you a new customer base, make sure you’re investing in technology that works for you. There’s a lot of great help and advice out there for businesses looking to upgrade, so make sure you take advantage of it. This could make 2022 a whole new start for your business.
