Small businesses are often the slowest adopters of new technology. Common barriers are typically cost of the product or the lack of time to investigate new tech options. But the right tools can make your business run more efficiently and more securely. Today we are going to cover a handful of small business tech concepts and tools that your company should consider adopting.
Your business’ productivity usually coincides with its level of success. Removing obstacles and improving workflows is crucial to ensure your staff can do their jobs effectively.
Access – Giving your staff the ability to work from anywhere is one of the best ways to maintain productivity. Implementing a remote access plan will allow you employees flexibility and more opportunity to accomplish tasks.
Embrace The Cloud – Typically associated with remote access, cloud storage and other applications ensure your staff can access the files and resources necessary to do their jobs. The cloud can also reduce downtime. Most providers promise ~99% uptime and availability.
The Right Computer – It is critical that the devices issued to your staff match their job role. A designer will need a more powerful device, whereas the receptionist can get by with a much lower end machine. Not much will kill productivity faster than a slow computer. Or an old computer, consider upgrading after 5 years.
Streamlining communication and improving collaboration can significantly boost efficiency. A Cisco study shows communication/collaboration tools can increase productivity by 400%
Conferencing/Video/Chat/File Share – Having the ability to do all of these things can significantly increase efficiency. The good news is that there is one platform that can do it all, Microsoft Teams. Now you could put all of these pieces together ad hoc, but Microsoft has already done all of the heavy lifting. Teams gives your team the ability to chat, exchange files, meet virtually over video and setup conference calls with internal and external parties.
Fix Your Phones – If you are like most small businesses, your phones are either bad or acceptable. Rarely do we hear new clients say they are happy with their phone systems. This is because they are usually old, out of date solutions. There is a much better option, VoIP. It is feature rich, cost-effective phone service over the internet. You can learn more about VoIP in this article we wrote earlier this year.
Back To The Cloud – Not only do cloud solution make sharing & managing files simple, it also promotes collaboration. Several cloud tools give your team the ability to read and edit files simultaneously and cooperatively.
Cybersecurity typically gets the smallest piece from the pie that is a small business IT budget. In a perfect world, it should get the biggest. But some is better than none. The number of small businesses without any cybersecurity plan is a shocking 43%.
Upgrade Your Antivirus – Traditional antivirus is no longer enough. Modern threats require modern security. Invest in an Endpoint Detection solution to insulate your business from Ransomware and other new-age threats.
Manage Access – This is less of a tool and more of a concept. Access management, also known as identity management, is a set of policies and technologies that ensure users have access to specific resources. This means that only authorized users can use a service or access a file, blocking non-authorized users from continental or critical resources. This can mitigate data exfiltration and accidental deletion.
Train Your Staff – When you provide an employee access to your systems, you increase your cybersecurity risks. Your employees need to be aware of their responsibility to protect business data and how they can prevent a breach. Cybersecurity training not only teaches employees how to be more secure, but it also promotes accountability.
By implementing these tools, your business can improve efficiency and mitigate risks. As experts in small business technology, The Purple Guys is here to help you adopt and install any or all these solutions. Reach out today by calling us at 816-222-1100 or request a quote here.