Technology and Communication in Business

Communication today is instantaneous, massive amounts of data is moved through email and the Internet. These are powerful tools are now in the hands of owners and employees. This vast new amount of communication has made it possible for businesses to grow and compete on a larger scale. Technology creates opportunities in business and opens the door to growth, sustainability and success. Innovations in technology have improved operations at companies of all sizes and helped turn small, local businesses into global businesses. The four pillars of business – communication, marketing, productivity and customer service – are ever changing given the new influx of technology. Without these pillars, the business world would not have evolved in to the global spectrum that we see today. The pillars define a communication standard of business and each business must integrate these pillars and technology in order to grow and become a successful business.

Communication

Cell phones have become small business necessities for owners and employees. These devices are essential for staying in touch and responding to customer inquiries in a timely manner and make it easy to do so. Smartphones raise the bar with access to the Internet, email and business applications in a small hand held device. Email, text messaging and social networking are other forms of communication that keep small businesses connected to their customers and improve communication in the company. Box Cloud Storage system and Google Cloud Storage are great examples of how companies can share information wirelessly and on the same server. This wireless communication and transfer of information allows multiple employees to access documents in real time and edit or use accordingly. This new development on social media, data sharing and networking has sparked new forms of communication between people and businesses.

Marketing

Technology has allowed small businesses to reach new and existing customers without restrictions of paper advertisement. Internet marketing ranges from a simple informational website, to advertising on search engines, to even online product sales. Bing and Google have enabled ad campaigns to be posted on their search engines allowing your message to be a top priority when customers are searching for your service. This online ad campaign allows your message and business to reach many different customers around the world, connecting your business to new markets. Email marketing is also an effective and low cost method to reach larger groups of people with newsletters, coupons, or even business updates. Mobile marketing is a new frontier that reaches people by text messaging, advertising on mobile applications and offering branded applications that involve customers into what is happening with the small business in a fun and entertaining way. These new forms of marketing allow the business to reach a larger audience to deliver their service or product.

Productivity

Small businesses need to maximize productivity out of their operations employees and technology tools help employees get tasks done quickly. From printing out marketing materials or providing customer service through email or online chat, technology maximizes efficiency. The key is to keep employees focused when using technology and to use it with the goal of saving time. Sometimes, a phone call may be more efficient and productive than an email. Provide employees with hardware and updated software to keep them working at peak proficiency. With technology, efficiency and productivity can improve with the ability to accomplish more than one task at a time and do so within a timely manner.

Customer Service

Technology brings small businesses closer to customers. Small businesses use email to answer questions, offer online chat to help customers that may be visiting the website, and equip employees with phone equipment that makes customer service agents more efficient. Using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software allows you to keep track of interactions with that customer and organize client information. Make sure to give customers a variety of ways to contact the company. Technology is powerful, but keep the people element in mind and don’t rely too heavily on technology. Although technology is an incredibly helpful and useful tool, employees cannot only rely on this technology to accomplish all their daily tasks. Employees need to put effort and look into detail in all of the work that they do for the company.