Has technology taken over the world? We certainly think so. Look around you. High in the streets, billboards aren’t paper anymore, they’re electronic. Think about where you get your news from. You don’t bother with the TV or radio, it’s all the internet. You’ll get important news updates to your phone if you have the right app, Or, what about how we interact, socially. We don’t meet up for coffee anymore, we talk across social networks. Scientists claim that this isn’t having an impact on our ability to socialise. But there is no denying that the way we interact with one another has changed. That’s society as a whole but if we narrow it down to the business world, it’s no different.

Businesses, in particular, smaller ones, are reliant on the available tech. It helps them stay competitive keeping costs low and their work efficient. It boosts the output of companies and increases profits. With that in mind here are the types of tech we think your business should be using. We guarantee they will all help put your company at a higher position.

Digital Marketing

Let’s begin with the myth of digital marketing. We know that many people will say that marketing online is a free resource. But a part of that statement is missing. They should be saying that the basic form of marketing online is a free resource. Essentially you can market your business online by yourself without any additional help. We could look at organic SEO as an example. Organic SEO means that it occurred naturally during the setup of your business site. You didn’t pay for any services or ask for any expertise. You didn’t need to. Simply by posting articles with links and using the right keywords you found your website easily attracted interest. While this is technically possible, it’s not very likely.

As we have already said, the business world is competitive and to stay in the game you have to invest in the right resources. You need to be getting a professional SEO service from a digital marketing company. Even if you do have some skill with SEO, you still won’t get your company on page 1 of Google results without some help. There are too many companies using professional services to get their business to the top. As well as this, it’s impossible to be certain that you avoid the penguins and panda penalties Google are now implementing. If your SEO isn’t natural, your search ranking will decrease. Only experts know how to build SEO to avoid this.

Of course SEO is just one part of internet marketing. You can also think about using social networks to your advantage. But, when you read information about how to do this it’s usually simplified. First, they say you need to update them regularly. As a business owner you’re not going to have time to do this. It’s best to instead get someone else to do it for you. Rather than hire someone it makes sense to outsource the job to a marketing agency. Most agencies specialise in every area of marketing so you’ll save on costs.

IT Solutions

Now you know how to use tech to make your business more visible to customers. But what about making your business efficient and ensuring it runs smoothly without any problems. The answer to this issue is IT support. Again you can outsource this job rather than hiring your own IT staff. You might wonder why IT support is so important to a small business. Perhaps, you don’t even operate much of your business online? Well, firstly all businesses use computers in some form or another. Secondly, if they break down it can damage your business and your reputation. Imagine if there is a fault on your network and you lose customer files. You will have to alert them of this occurrence and that can cause them to lose their trust in your business.

But if you have an IT support company in your corner, you’ll never have to worry about this possibility. They will guarantee that you always can rely on them to keep your network up and running. Netstar is an excellent company because they offer 24/ support as well as backup and security. They can make sure any lost data is recovered in under four hours.

Video Conferencing

One of the biggest advantages technology can offer your business is that it can cut costs. A simple way you can do this is by switching to digital means in areas of your business. For instance, you might be thinking about expanding your company to an international level of business. That means you’ll need to meet with new partners, suppliers and employees. This can lead to a lot of expensive business costs that end up adding to more than you would believe. While you can claim some of this back on tax, it will still end up being a big expense. But, a lot of companies these days are cutting out business travel expenses all together. Meetings are completed online or over the phone. With the latest video conferencing software, you can still have a face to face meeting without leaving your office.

The Bigger Picture

Ultimately, technology could change how you run your business completely. A lot of start-up companies are beginning their life on the market as one person working from home. But, there’s nothing to stop your already running company converting to this strategy. Think about how much money you could save if you no longer needed to rent office space. If you’re using cloud technology running your entire business from home is a very real possibility. You can complete most of your day to day business online. For any activity that needs an office such as a conference meeting, you can rent a virtual office. These are a lot cheaper because you only pay for the days that you use them. This can also help your business look professional as you can set it up as your official business address.

We hope you see how vital technology can be for a small business like yours in 2015. You may want to start using these tech solutions today.