Technology that can Help Small Businesses

Small businesses have to do more with less, leading to them increasingly looking to technology to fill the gaps. The issue is that many small businesses feel like the big tech companies don’t comprehend their needs. If you feel like the technology options you have at your disposal don’t necessarily fit your organization's needs, consider that these robust solutions have all the functionality that you need to manage your own business processes. Let's take a look at some of the enterprise technology SMBs are using to move their businesses forward and some of the considerations you may need to make to leverage a software solution that doesn’t seem like it fits.

The first thing that any business owner or small business decision maker has to comprehend is that people today are more connected than ever. This hyper connectivity creates greater expectations. This fact has to be confronted by the SMB. Usually, the small business wouldn’t choose to invest in big-ticket solutions that are designed to streamline operations and enhance the customer’s interactions with the company, but with consumer demand what it is, biting the bullet and making large software investments can bring additional opportunities that wouldn’t be presented otherwise. Some solutions your SMB needs to have include:

Customer Relationship Management

Incorporating a CRM is a must for every modern business. There are literally hundreds of options to choose from, but some are clearly designed for the enterprise user and can be a bit much for a small business. More often than not there are industry-specific solutions that can be leveraged that provide integrated customer relationship management capabilities. These solutions offer all the benefits of a standalone CRM, but with options designed specifically for the vertical market in which they are used.

A CRM is basically mandatory for a small business as it provides significant automation of tasks that, at one time, were the responsibility of multiple employees. The small business has to function with reduced payroll compared to its larger competitors. As a result, any solution designed to automate whole portions of business-critical tasks has more value to a small business than one that relies on manpower to perform. A CRM accomplishes this by integrating customer relationships with scheduling, payroll, and more.  

Supply Chain Management

For the modern small manufacturer, it is more imperative than ever to meet customer demands. In order to accomplish this, the supply chain, that is the procurement, manufacturing, fulfillment, and distribution of the product has to work in harmony. To facilitate this coordination, technology is being utilized to manage the processes in one, easy-to-use, platform. Some Supply Chain Management options, like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), also provides the features found in a CRM, consolidating the amount of software users need to learn to keep business moving forward.

Marketing Automation

Modern small businesses have to have a web presence. Some use social media, some have their own website created. No matter what you currently do, to upgrade your business’ revenue creation, strengthening your online footprint is an affordable and effective way of using technology to its advantage. Using advanced technology to manage and nurture leads with automated systems can cut organizational costs and help business move faster.

It works like this: you capture leads with a website and instead of having to search through the information yourself, the marketing automation integrates all the captured information with your CRM. This can help a business enhance its ability to close sales; or, at the very least have the conversations that result in more sales.

Every business should be thinking about how to limit their costs and get more done with technology. For more information about how to choose a CRM for your business, call the IT professionals at Macro Systems today at 703-359-9211.