The future of technology is centered around propelling small and medium businesses to success. With the global pandemic, the inclination towards adopting novel tech resolutions and trends among SMBs has also increased significantly.
From using online video conferencing platforms to digitizing important aspects of the business like customer servicing, almost every operation has made the shift. As you move into the new year, it is best to brace yourself for rapid advancement in technology.
What SMBs Should Know About Tech in 2022
In the last two years, SMBs and large businesses have become dependent on technology a lot more than ever. Tech development companies seized the opportunity to give you a taste of how technology can change the way you work. This, combined with our innate need to communicate better and adopt convenient solutions will have a major impact on the way we use technology in 2022.
Here are some things that you should be aware of before you move on to creating an IT roadmap for your business:
The Hybrid Working Model Is Here To Stay
The work from home model will be retained by many companies because of its cost-effectiveness. For SMBs, especially, having employees working from home means lesser investment in space and resources to manage their staff. For employees, too, work from home allows more flexibility. Work from home will eventually see a transformation into ‘work from anywhere’.
This means that you will need better, but more secure access to data. You also need to adopt technology that allows seamless connectivity between different members of your organization.
Trust Will Play A Major Role
The most important transformation that has occurred during the pandemic is the increasing trust that businesses are putting into technology. They trust that technology can help them make business operations smoother.
This transformation, however, demands transparency that will be enabled by technology. Be it data management, finance and accounting, hiring processes or security, technology will hold people accountable at every step of the way. This is a major advantage for SMBs.
Asynchronous Collaboration Will Receive A Lot of Attention
Given that the hybrid model will remain, people are looking for more effective ways to collaborate. To give you a simple example of asynchronous collaboration, let us take a look at Google Docs. It allows you to share data in real-time, without having to scramble through storage systems each time.
In the coming year, even applications for scheduled meetings will allow shorter, quick link meetings. The ‘Start Huddle’ function introduced by the meeting application, Slack, is a good example of that.
Business Will Become More Ambitious With Technology
The expectation from technology will also be higher in the coming year. This means that SMBs will begin to purchase mid-market products while mid-market companies will shift to enterprise-level solutions.
So, unless you upgrade, your competition will find a tremendous edge over you.
Digital Transformation will Accelerate
Both consumers and business owners have realised the comfort and various advantages that technology offers. In the year 2022, digitization will be more than moving into cloud computing or the online space. You will have to create an ecosphere where staff, business partners and customers can carry out transactions digitally without any issues. Imagine your whole supply chain being connected by smart tech solutions. That is what the future holds.
Why Tech Solutions Are Important For Your Business
Here are the major benefits of tech solutions for your SMBs
- It allows businesses to remain agile and respond to market changes quickly.
- Allows better communication, collaboration and communication between team members.
- With automation, productivity also improves.
- Scalability improves significantly, allowing newer revenue streams to help businesses grow faster.
- You have better storage solutions with new technology.
- Financial management and accounting also becomes more streamlined and well-recorded.
- Better customer engagement and experience.
- You have better security options with new technology.
If you want to explore the possibilities with new technology for your SMB, here are 5 resolutions that you need to make in 2022:
Resolution 1: Let’s Talk Digital Documentation. How Do We Consolidate and Organize Digital Data, Especially in SMBs?
With team members collaborating online, efficient digital document management is a must. Using cloud computing and storage solutions will help you create, store, track, share and manage your digital documents.
In order to create the best digital management system, here are some steps that you need to follow:
- Find a platform that has an easy user-interface and is easy to integrate into your existing IT infrastructure.
- This platform should also have desktop and offline working options.
- Be very careful about permissions and access for documents to ensure security.
- Organize your storage by categorizing your files and having strict rules for naming files.
- Carry out regular maintenance of your documentation system to eliminate errors and downtime.
- Always remember to have a backup of important documents.
- Archiving documents that are no longer in use is a good idea, in case you need them for reference in the future.
There are solutions like Box (For Business) and eFileCabinet that come with all the necessary features to help you go from paper to digital documentation easily.
Resolution 2: High Five For Cloud Backups: How to Make Smart Decisions on Data Storage and Backups
For small and medium businesses, scalability is the biggest challenge. As you grow, you need an infrastructure that supports you. Investing in real estate or hardware is not generally an option when you are still in the initial stages of your business. This is where cloud computing becomes an important tool for you.
Cloud backups give you a smart, affordable and powerful solution for all your data storage issues.
Here are some advantages of cloud backup that will convince you that it is what you need in the years to come:
- Easy backup of workload from anywhere in real time.
- Some of these service providers also give you the option of replication of data without any additional cost.
- You can secure your data by moderating permissions and access.
- Complete data portability. Most cloud backup systems are compatible with cloud storage solutions like AWS or Google Cloud. So, if you decide to switch, you don’t have to worry about integration.
- You have ample flexibility to support your growing business needs. You can also upgrade the volume of backup at any time at affordable prices.
Remember, there is a difference between cloud storage and backup. Cloud storage helps you store data on a remote server while cloud backup creates backup or duplicates of files that have already been stored elsewhere.
When choosing cloud storage, go for features like security, volume and ease of integration. While choosing cloud backup, make sure that the solution that you choose allows you to customize the frequency and management of your backup files.
Resolution 3: Artificial Intelligence is Going to Take Over the World, Embrace It
As an SMB you are flooded with data everyday. This includes market data, supply data, internal data, consumer data and a lot more. Using AI and Machine Learning allows you to streamline the data and make best use of it as well.
Tech research and consulting company, Garnter predicts that in 2022, 1 in 5 employees of an organization will use AI to carry out routine tasks. This means recovery of productivity hours, helping SMBs grow faster.
Here are some benefits that you can expect from AI:
- AI based chat platforms will enhance customer engagement and help you respond to queries faster. CRM will also use machine learning to communicate effectively with existing and prospective customers.
- AI can also collect data and train salespersons to improve their performance with regular feedback.
- AI-powered market and competition analysis helps in monitoring the trends in your industry to stay ahead of your contemporaries.
- Cybersecurity is enhanced with AI as it can detect any anomaly in the behaviour of users online.
- You can manage all your communication across digital marketing channels using AI.
We have already seen SMBs using chatbots and similar AI features to smoothen business operations. AI will also help you make real-time changes to enhance customer experience. For those in ecommerce, Artificial Intelligence is very valuable in driving more sales and increasing revenue.
Resolution 4: Ecommerce- If Not Now, When?
The benefits of ecommerce for retail are unparalleled. The lockdown and other restrictions during the pandemic forced small businesses to accept more payments online. If you are selling a product or service, you must also remember that customers now expect online transaction facilities.
So, it is the best time to incorporate eCommerce into your business operations. You can also choose omnichannel sales to give your customers the best of both online and offline shopping experiences.
You can integrate online buying options with your existing website or choose ecommerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce that are readily available. The benefits of this are as follows:
- You can increase your customer base easily when you begin to sell online.
- Social media marketing efforts will become more fruitful as you can drive sales instantly.
- Maintaining inventories and financial records are much simpler with online sales.
- You do not have to limit your stock or range of products because of space restrictions.
With cloud storage, affordable ecommerce platforms, better connectivity and the significant changes in consumer behaviour, this is the right time to switch to ecommerce if you haven’t already.
Resolution 5: Business Process Automation- For Enhanced Productivity
There are so many routine tasks that take up a lot of productivity hours each day. Business Process Automation allows you to integrate technology into business operations to take care of all these tasks.
BPA can be as simple as automating responses for emails or online queries or as complex as creating workflow with multi-level approval systems. For SMBs, automation can help cut costs significantly. You can maintain smaller teams and still ensure productivity when most of the mundane tasks are taken care of through automation.
Studies show that almost 1/3rd of the work for most job roles can be automated. This allows you to focus on the important tasks at hand and work towards organizational goals.
The common areas where BPA can be implemented are as follows:
- Customer engagement
- Procurement
- Logistics and Delivery
- Finance
- Sales
- Marketing
- Onboarding processes and HR
- Training and education
How To Implement and Manage Your Tech Solutions For Success
Here are some tips to successfully implement the right tech solutions for your business:
- Understand the problems that exist in business operations and identify the best solutions for each one.
- During the initial stages of implementation, identify members from your team, including IT, operations and marketing, to lead the process.
- Invest in training and education of your staff when implementing new technology.
- Make a road map of your customer journey. Any new tech that is implemented should have customer experience in mind at each step.
- Set benchmarks for any tech implementation. You should be able to make maximum use of it to get better ROI.
If you are unsure of where to start and how to move ahead with tech solutions for your business, then Bitcot is the perfect partner for your digital transformation. We are experts in e-commerce, cloud enabled web platforms, CMS, business software, SaaS and a lot more. We understand the trends in your industry to help you find the best and most feasible options to sustain scalability and manage business operations effectively.
