From the beginning of time, every good business owner has searched for a way to make their business more effective and more competitive. In the years since the advent of the computer, business like yours have rushed to the advantages that this new era would bring. This has benefited them immensely. Today, information is the new currency, and it is hardware like computers, servers, tablets, and smart phones that allows the free flow and utilization of that information.
We believe that in today’s environment if businesses like yours adapt quickly to these changes, you will have the greatest market advantage. You can make use of information technology in many different ways to get ahead and to stay ahead of your competition.
- Communication – The average smart phone of today has many thousand more times the computing power of the first mainframe computers. These were mammoth beasts that took up entire floors of commercial buildings. As a result of this advancement, communication options like email, instant messaging, and even video conferencing have become commonplace. This level of communication allows companies like yours to streamline their internal communication processes, their communication with their offsite employees, and their interaction with their customers. No longer do you have to watch employees waste time going from office to office to discuss simple matters, and with the implementation of IT requiring clients to line up for help at a customer service counter can be a thing of the past. These things and much more can be done instantaneously from any computer or mobile device, and we can show you how.
- Outsourcing and Freelancing – The global nature of IT enables you to hire employees and freelancers from all over the world. By doing this, your company can access a pool of prospective workers that possess a level of talent that may not be available in your local area. Even better, using information technology allows you to hire workers at more competitive rates. This is a direct result of global competition. When you have people from all over the world able and willing to do your work, (as a result of utilizing IT) that competition naturally drives the cost of that labor down. All of this culminates in lower costs and greater margins for your business.
- Efficiency – Information technology offers any number of avenues to make your business more efficient. For example, the amount of data that can be stored on and quickly retrieved from a server vastly outperforms a physical filing system, and we have already talked about how information technology can help your company communicate more efficiently. Where the benefits of utilizing information technology efficiency really shine however, are in the realm of repetitive tasks. Think about all of those things that your business does every day: calculations, information retrieval, and information processes. These can all be carried out by technology with next to no mistakes and in much less time by using the technology available to us today.
- Competition – If your company can manufacture a product in less time and for less money than another company, then your company has the competitive edge. That advantage could be the primary factor in your company’s domination of your niche. Conversely, the company that isn’t taking advantage of information technologies is spending more money in labor and will eventually be left behind.
- Economics – The money doesn’t lie, and every indicator points to the wisdom of a heavy reliance on information technology within your company’s business strategy. Whether your company is a small mom and pop corner store or a multi-national conglomerate, any business can realize a bottom line advantage by incorporating information technology.
Information technology is not going anywhere. Companies that ignore the benefits of IT are bound to become obsolete in the coming years. You don’t want yours to be one of them. Today’s company leaders have to come to grips with the necessity and the very real advantages of IT. From the company that crunches numbers to the one that sells hand-made artisanal woodworking, every company needs a strategy and the technology to harness a world of information for their advantage.
