If you are the owner of a small business, you probably appreciate the difficulties of competing in a competitive industry.

Adopting technology solutions into your business environment is an effective way to create a productive and efficient workforce. Investing in tech can increase productivity by 20%, which is incredibly high for an increased amount of employees working remotely. 

There is no limit to the innovation that is expected to be seen in 2020. Integrating technology into your business is the best way to keep up to date with new developments that could help your business succeed. 

Here are 3 emerging technologies that we believe small-business should look into:

• Productivity Managers 
• The Cloud 
• Automation

Productivity Manager 

Productivity managers are a great way to organise your team from anywhere in the world from a few clicks. 

But how can this benefit your business?

Operational Costs

A productive environment full of efficient individuals can increase the amount of work a team can complete. The technology used to create a productive workforce will decrease the hours employees need to work, resulting in less stress and more creativity.

Profit 

A decrease in operational costs will contribute to an increased profit. For example, when the labour force is decreased but still produces the same output, costs will lower and profits will rise. 

Business Assets

Companies that intelligently assign their assets are likely to excel. Human Resource (HR).

management solutions are a great way to distribute resources across employees, keeping them busy 100% of the time. 

So, which productivity manager should you use? How can you start increasing your business’s productivity?

The internet is full of organisation and productivity management software which can help your business, but one is far ahead of the rest!

Asana

Asana is a commercial organisation software that gives teams “greater clarity, context, and ownership over their work.” This platform allows you to manage your team and keep them focused on specific goals and objectives. 

There are 4 features to Asana that make it greater than other productivity managers:

• Management and Reporting – This feature offers advanced search, saved search reports, project progress, portfolios and workload. Platforms such as Monday only offer 2 of these features that are not as effective. 

• Project Views – Asana lets you view projects in list, board, timeline, calendar, files, progress, portfolios, workload, inbox and my tasks formats, letting you work in the way that suits you.

• Templates – 50+ templates give you the opportunity to design a creative workspace for you and your employees. 

• Mobile App – Asana’s mobile app lets you control your business from anywhere around the globe with ease. It has a 4.7-star rating on the app store.

Using Asana is a great way to manage your workforce, lower operational costs, increase profits and intelligently assign your business assets. 

Start your 30-day free trial now!

The Cloud

The Cloud is a virtual data system that can be accessed from absolutely anywhere, with an internet connection. It consists of a collection of computer networks that can’t be physically touched, only controlled. 

Why switch to the Cloud?

48% of all data corporate data is stored in the Cloud and 49% of organisations are encrypting sensitive data in the Cloud.

Investing in your own data stores is very expensive. If you outsource this task to a third-party provider you could save a lot of time and money.

If you are looking to grow your business economically, the Cloud offers a variety of solutions that cater to your needs. The price of Cloud storage is relatively cheap for a large amount of real estate, making the cost to store your businesses data low. 

But is your data safe?

Your data is protected differently by every provider, but the most common way data is secured is through encryption.

Google Cloud, for example, encrypts your data automatically, with no action required. The same service is used in many of Google’s production services such as Gmail and its own corporate data. 

What are the Potential Risks?

Technology brings a lot of potential risk with its innovation, I think you and your business should be aware of the implications the cloud poses, but not intimidated by them.

The most substantial risk the cloud presents is losing control of your data to someone else. Essentially, your data could be lost, whipped or stolen.

If you do your research and pick a trusted provider, you shouldn’t have any concerns relating to data security. 

However, if you are seriously concerned, here are some tips to make your cloud experience risk free:

• Backup Data Locally
• Avoid Storing Sensitive Information
• Use Cloud Services that Encrypt Data
• Encrypt Your Data
• Install Anti-virus Software
• Make Passwords Stronger
• Test the Security Measures in Place

How are we using the cloud?

At The Good Marketer we use the cloud to stay connected. Having client information all in one place makes it easy to save important data, present it to clients or develop something collaboratively as a team.

The cloud has organised our workflow and made our working environment more efficient, we definitely recommend switching.

Automation 

Automation is the process of using automatic equipment to complete a certain task or process. 

Automating elements of your business is extremely beneficial, there are almost too many benefits to list in this article!

So, here are the top 3 benefits of automation:

• Minimised Human Error
• Optimised Asset and Workforce Allocation
• Market Demands

Minimised Human Error

Automation can ensure tasks are completed correctly. 

Human errors can unnecessarily cost your business valuable time and money. When the smallest mistake could have a detrimental effect on your business, it’s not worth risking it when a solution could easily be put in place.

Optimised Asset and Workforce Allocation

Efficiently assigning resources will save your business money, and invest in areas of development.

Asana, the productivity manager mentioned above, can be seen as automation which correctly allocates resources, ensuring workloads are distributed equally among individuals. However, the software includes manual elements that must be completed by humans, but shows the benefit of a potentially fully automated piece of technology would have.

Market Demands

Following market trends and your consumer’s needs is a difficult task for anyone and usually involves hiring a specialist, which is another expense.

Applying automation that can track market fluctuations can serve as a valued asset and give your business a competitive advantage in your industry.

It is not necessary to automate every process in your business, but it is a good idea to identify what element could be performed more efficiently and consider automating it.

Summary

Optimising your business’s potential through the use of technology will help bring success to your business.

Organising your workforce with a productivity manager such as Asana, is a brilliant way to intelligently assign your resources to save money and increase your profits. It is important to do some research and use software that works best with the way your business operates.

Moving to the Cloud is a big step for every business, and should only be done after strong consideration. The Cloud is a cost-effective way to store your data and make it easily accessible from anywhere in the world. It comes with its risks, so choose a trusted provider that will handle your data with care.

Finally, automating the ineffective processes of your business, that suffer from human error, should consider being automated. Automation is a great way to gain a competitive advantage in your industry and allow your business to excel.

After adopting all of the actions mentioned above, we can definitely say the switch is beneficial. Moving to any form of new technology is daunting and comes with its risks, but change should be embraced instead of ignored.

If you would like to learn more about how we adopted technology solutions in our workplace, or interested in taking a new approach to marketing for your small-business, then get in touch with one of the top Digital Marketing Agencies in London, The Good Marketer.

Bio – The Good Marketer is a Marketing Agency in London which drives more traffic, generates conversions and increases sales for Small-To-Medium Sized Businesses.