When did you last carry out a strategic tech review?
Tech is evolving all the time, and your business is evolving. Are you confident that you know how modern tech can increase productivity and improve customer service in your business? Most businesses have access to tech support, but when was the last time you carried out a full strategic tech review?
Reviewing what you’re doing and how you’re doing it, will often fall to the bottom of your ‘to do’ list and stay there for some time, particularly if things are running ‘fine’. However, reviewing your tech will lead to huge increases in productivity and will ensure that your team are up to date with the impact of tech in their sector.
Let’s start at the dreaded e-mail in-box. How long do you and your team spend searching through e-mail every day to find that client e-mail? Using a request management system and an internal task board can save you hours and ensure that nothing gets lost in the mailbox.
Most businesses now have Microsoft Office or Google Workspace, but just use the e-mail. Did you know that you can send surveys and forms to your clients, publish your calendar and keep internal task boards (to give you just some examples)? Both those systems come with a huge array of useful applications that may be relevant to your business. It is well worth finding out. You’re already paying for them!
How efficient is your online filing system? Do you waste time finding files, or worse, lose them altogether? Filing systems often evolve organically over time. As the work changes and people enter and leave the business, it can become a mess (don’t worry, you’re nor the only ones). This is made worse when businesses acquire other businesses and systems are then patched together. It is well worth undertaking a thorough review to ensure there is agreed standardisation. It will cut down on wasted searching time and make it easier for new employees to find their way around it quickly.
Do you have an effective CRM (customer relationship management) system to keep all client information centralised? There are many different software products on the market to help you and, depending on your business, these can deliver huge benefits. A good one will enable you to manage clients across multiple departments in a professional way and ensure that everyone who comes into contact with that client has the information they need to hand. A good CRM will also make it easy to segment clients and to identify potential upselling opportunities.
At its simplest, AI can summarise and highlight information and search within internal repositories for the appropriate files. You’ll probably find that your employees are also beginning to use AI for managing data. However, most would find it helpful to have some training and guidance, and as a business, you’ll want to ensure you leverage AI appropriately. In some sectors, AI fundamentally impacts the nature of the work. In legal firms, for example, lawyers need to understand how AI could be used to contaminate or falsify evidence.
The above is just a small taster of the ways a tech review could improve your business. As you can see, you can secure huge improvements by simply utilising what you already have better.
Most businesses do not have the necessary time, expertise and detachment to carry out the review in-house and that’s where we can help. If you believe you would benefit from a strategic tech review, get in touch. We work with small businesses to cut through the jargon to deliver cost effective solutions.
