Many small businesses today are relying on new technology to solve all their growth problems. Using new social media tools, automation and remote working tools without actually employing an understanding of the technology. These are the reasons why your new technology isn’t working for your small business.
What Is The Purpose?
When you buy a product to fix your home you won’t buy the first thing that worked for your friend who had a similar problem without fully understanding what the problem was. A noise coming from your ceiling could be a number of problems. Ranging from your pipes to a birds nest in your chimney. So a similar problem of “we don’t have enough sales” wouldn’t be fixed simply by one simple piece of new technology. You need to understand the purpose of the technology and how to achieve the solution you are looking for.
Come to the proposed technology with the problem and solution in mind. If you’re having trouble answering a lot of questions then employing a chatbot to take care of simple frequently asked questions could be the solution. Alternatively, you could even have a simple FAQ section. The cost of which would be considerably less than a whole service. For more complex questions new technology won’t be the solution if it can’t answer them or take the task of answering them away from your team.
Training and Implementation
New technology and the costs of implementing it should be a key factor when deciding to upgrade your technology. If the technology is only being used by a small number of people then it’s important they get the absolute most out of it. We all want a great return on our investment and ensuring people are effectively using the tools available is how to make the most out of new technology. If the tools are being squandered then the cost of the new technology won’t be recovered in an acceptable time frame.
A lot of services will offer articles and support on how to get the most out of them. So when you’re browsing for your next time-saving purchase check out their support team and content. A frequently updated blog section means they care about the product and their clients.
It Won’t Save You Time
If you purchase new technology to save time, then you need to make sure that it actually will do just that. If the time it takes to train and readjusting your process is too great your business will suffer just enough to make that purchase redundant in an instant. When you grow a business time and money are such important factors. You need to make the most of both, so learning how a piece of new technology works needs to be straightforward. If it isn’t you’ll be consistently losing time trying to make a new purchase work, which will make the daily operations of your business harder and harder.
Is New Technology a Waste of Time?
Of course not.
This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try your best to keep your business up to date with technology. It means you should keep your understanding of technology up to date. Understand how a new service or product will affect your business. Overlook all the on-paper benefits and understand how it slots into your business process. You need to answer important questions:
- Will it save you time?
- How easy is it to implement?
- Can just anyone use it?
- How long will it take to make a difference?
- Is the price worth the product?
- How does it work?
- Is there an easy to access support network?
Answer all these questions and a few of your own personal questions. Then, you’ll be able to make an informed decision about your new technology. Making it a viable solution for your business.
