With these endless technological advancement in the business world, many businesses are resorting to different types of technology to scale out their operations. Technology simplifies the way we do business; both big and small businesses are using technology to accomplish specific tasks. Since every business has its own need for technology, you will find that each business uses technology in its own way, however, in general, all businesses use technology to improve on their efficiency, to increase on production, to cut down operational costs, to serve customers on-time and so much more.
Businesses are organized and operated under laws and mores of our society, so even the type of technology to be used by any business must be accepted by laws and society. So, before using any business technology, make sure that it is accepted by the law and the society you want to serve.
All businesses are economic enterprises, they all engage in economic activities. An economic activity can be defined as a business effort towards making profits. These economic activities include; (a) commercial trades which includes wholesale and retail merchants who use technology to move products from producers to consumers, commercial traders do not deal in direct production of goods, so even the type of technology they use is different. Other types of economic activities include financial, service and industrial activities.
However, the process of integrating technology in a business can be expensive; the all process will involve the following additional costs;
- Buying of new technological equipments
- Installation costs and training of employees to use these new technologies
- Maintenance costs, because all technological tools will need monthly maintenance for efficiency purposes.
- Replacing and upgrading existing technologies.
Below I have listed detailed points on, what technology is used for in business?
- Research and development: Many businesses use technology for research and development purposes. For your business to succeed in today’s competitive world, you need to make extensive research on various factors, for example, you need to know what your customers want and the best way to collect this type of information is by using internet technology, successful businesses like AMAZON.com, study their customer needs and wants and they use that information to scale out their businesses basing on their customer needs and wants. Research seeks to discover knowledge, so it helps a business owner know which product or service to give their customers. Both research and development can be viewed as the ”backbone” of every business, if you don’t gather facts about your customer’s needs, business competitors and market behavior, then it will be very difficult for you to succeed in this highly competitive business world.
- Production: One of the main use of technology in business is to increase production. The production process is classified into three stages and these include;
(1) Planning to produce: This stage determines the sequences of operations needed to complete a given task. Planning is the backbone of all production system. So before you start using technology to produce any product or service, you have to plan.
(2) Producing the product or service: This stage involves changing the form of materials to add to their worth or value. Some of these activities include; locating and securing materials, producing required stock and manufacturing the product.
(3) Maintaining quality: Since customers need systems or products to meet their needs and wants, businesses have to maintain the quality of these products and services. Quality control includes systems and programs which ensure the outputs of technological systems meet engineering standards and customer expectations. So after producing products or services, a technological team will need to inspect the quality of all products and services. This inspection process involves comparing of materials and products with set quality standards.
In all these stages, technology has to be used, for example, in the planning stage, we can use computer aided design (CAD) to create 3D designs on computers, these 3D designs are always refereed to during the process of development, then in the production process, a business can use Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) or Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) systems to simplify the process of production and also reduce on labour costs.
- Marketing: Producing the best products and services will not guarantee business success. You need to use technology to promote your services and products. Many small businesses have resorted to internet technology to reach big masses of consumers online. Internet marketing is affordable and if it is well executed, its impacts can be great. You can use social media marketing networks like facebook to reach targeted consumers. On facebook, you will be in position to scale adverts basing on consumers interests, so in this case, your adverts will only be seen by people with interest and desire for your product or service. Another great adverting program is Google Adwords, with this media; your advert will be seen by Google search engine users, adverts placed in Google search results tend to convert into more sales than social media adverts, because people who use search engines are always searching for products or services. Social Medias are good when it comes to brand awareness, the results will come in the long run. Both Facebook and Google ad platforms can be used at a minimal cost, as an advertiser, you will determine how much money you will pay per click or impression. If you’re new to online marketing, i advice you to use 3rd party advertising medias like Salesforce.com to handle your social media presence.
- Control Financial Activities: Many businesses are using technology to manage their finance and payment processes. The use of Electronic point of sale systems (EPOS) and Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of sale (EFTPOS) simplifies the way transactions are made in retail stores; some businesses use online payment systems like Paypal to accept payments for their services or products. This all process can improve a business’s customer care department because customers will feel catered for if they are offered various payment systems. When it comes to accounting and tracking of inventory, various accounting software is used to accomplish these tasks, which saves business owners time and money.
- Human Resources Management: Business owners and human resource managers are resorting to internet technology to hire and interview potential job applicants. Today we have many job portals where companies list different types of jobs, applicants can easily find their areas of interest, and then they can apply for these jobs online. Job portals like www.moster.com,allow job applicants post their resumes online, this makes it easy for screening purposes, because the human resource manager will have a wide selection of job applicants and they will also have enough time to screen each and every resume.
- Communication: Technology is being used to simplify communication in a business. New communication technologies like electronic mails, e-fax, cell phones, videoconferencing tools, text messaging and social networks have simplified the way business owners communicate with their teams and customers. These advanced communication tools can be used in customer care department. If your customers find it easy to contact you and get response on time, they will gain confidence whenever they deal with you and this will help your business grow and expand. Also communication technology helps in the flow of information with in an organization, information can be shared across departments using electronic mail or text messaging services, this process will create a certain degree of efficiency within a business and it also helps in the decision making process.
- Secure Business Data and Information: Many businesses are using technology to secure business data, today; we have more than one cloud data hosting service, but the most reliable and popular cloud hosting services include; www.dropbox.com and www.box.com. Data hosted on these cloud servers is encrypted so it can’t be accessed by online hackers. Then some small business owners who fear hosting their data with cloud hosting companies have resorted to in-house cloud data hosting devices, a good example is the Iomega Personal Cloud device .
- Improve Competitiveness: Small businesses have had a chance to gain competitive advantage in highly competitive markets. If technology is well implemented, a small business can produce the best products basing on their customer needs and wants. They can also use technology to deliver services and products to potential customers on time. Many well established big companies ignore customer needs and wants, so they end up losing potential customers to small enterprises which take time to understand each of their customer needs and wants. We leave in a world where products and services are supposed to be tailored basing on what customers want.
3 Examples of technologies used in Business today:
Thought Out Stabile 2.0 iPad Stand
Tablets have become essetial business technologies, their sleek style makes it easy to use them to accomplish various business tasks. This Thought Out Stabile 2.0 iPad Stand can hold your iPad firmly and this can help you create or edit your business documents or perform a videoconfrencing meeting without having any troubles of carrying this iPad. From today, improve on your working environment and interact with your iPad in a very simple relaxing manner. Learn more about this Thought Out Stabile 2.0 iPad Stand from here…
Seagate Portable External Hard Drive:
We have seen in this article, that small business owners use technology to secure their business data, some use cloud hosting services like Dropbox.com, but others prefer backing-up their data on external hard-drives, because these drives can’t be hacked or they never experience server failures. When it comes to Portable External Hard Drives, Seagate makes the best Portable External Hard Drives, this hard-drive has 1TB of storage space , you can easily transfer data to this external hard-drive using a USB. Learn more about this Seagate Portable External Hard Drive from here…..
Connected Data 1TB Transporter Social Storage Drive
If you don’t want to use cloud data hosting services but you want to access your files from anywhere, then you will need to opt for this Connected Data 1TB Transporter Social Storage Drive, it keeps your data private and encrypted, you will be in position to access your files from any device, anywhere in the world. It can connect directly to your local network. Their no recurring fees, most online data backing services will charge you a specific fee every month to secure and store your data, they even have a limit on how much data your supposed to save on their servers. But this Connected Data 1TB Transporter Social Storage Drive will give you the pleasure of saving all types of files and data with no worries of paying extra fees every month. Learn more about this Connected Data 1TB Transporter Social Storage Drive from here….
