Tech News, Tech Industries, and Technology, all buzz words in our era and as they should be. I’m sure you are reading this article on one of the many technologies that are available today. These self-same technologies are being ingrained in our day-to-day life as society embraces the technological revolution until every aspect of our life, one way or the other revolves around a form of technology.
As a manager, entrepreneur, or employee, technology plays a major part in your business operation. It will be for our betterment if we recognize and appreciate the benefits that this technology brings to the table. But it is also of paramount importance that we do not neglect the possible drawbacks or disadvantages that it may pose to our business operations.
In this article, we will explore 3 benefits and 3 disadvantages that technology can bring to your business, and by the end of this article, you will have a better appreciation for all aspects of technology.
What Benefits can Technology bring to your business?
- Better Communication
It was Nat Turner that said, “Good communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity”. In any business endeavor, proper communication is very important. Technologies like emails, instant messaging, voice calls, and video calls make communication with coworkers, teammates, and clients better.
Many companies are taking advantage of this opportunity and allowing their employees to work remotely, since communicating with them in real-time is so reliable via the latest technologies. The communication benefit is not only for the employers but for the employees as well. Being able to work in another location or out of the office and still being able to know exactly what is happening in your company is quickly becoming a basic necessity of employees.
If you are a field worker, utilizing these technologies is a definite must. Instead of waiting to go back to the office to get new assignments. Using an instant message or voice call you can get your assignments while on the field and continue performing your task.
- Maximize Efficiency
Many companies desire to work more efficiently, as the saying goes, “Work smarter not harder”.Using technology is one of the ways to increase efficiency in your business. When you, as a business owner, invest in software and hardware to help speed up a process in your business, then you will benefit from the additional time and the high-value output from that invested technology.
Instead of logging in data manually, for instance, with pen and paper which can take you hours, use software instead. This in turn would minimize the number of errors that may occur from someone entering that information manually. Not only would it minimize errors but it would also save time on performing that task. And as an employer, you would save financially since your employees would not need to log in overtime for performing these manual tasks.
Your ability to bill/invoice a client can also be drastically improved by utilizing technology. Instead of having to create invoices by hand and sending them out to your clients, having to remember to send them periodical reminders and follow up on any outstanding payments some software, like QuickBooks, do this for you in the most effective ways.
- Enhanced Marketing
Technology is in every area of society and touches every group within society. The goal of any marketing endeavor is to reach the most people as possible. With technology, the ability to reach people is limitless. Technology is fast and can reach many people, across diverse geographical locations at any one time. No need to go out of the comfort of your office to advertise and the cost of such advertising is many times cheaper than the traditional paper printing method.
With technologies like social media, email marketing, websites, blogs, and the like your ability to reach the most persons is realized. The more persons you can reach the better your chances of landing that new customer and the better your ability to create brand exposure to secure your future clients. By creating a marketing plan you are positioning yourself to be future-proof in this technology-driven world.
What Disadvantages can Technology bring to your business?
- The Initial Cost
Now that we have described the benefits of technology, we must identify some disadvantages that technology brings to the business environment. One of those disadvantages is that of the initial cost or capital investment that upgrading to new technology bears.
There is no doubt the technology saves cost, in the sense of saving you time and increasing productivity hence bringing in an instant monetary value to your company. However, the cost of upgrading computer systems and purchasing effective software can certainly be expensive.
Not only the initial cost, but the cost of maintaining the equipment can also dampen your bottom line. It may be the case that you have to hire an expert or train a staff to maintain said technology. Even if you don’t have an in-house staff to maintain the technology but an external company, or outsourced company it is still a cost that has to be met.
One of the ways you can mitigate that drawback is by getting professional consultation in regards to your technology upgrades and partnering with skilled professionals that can provide these services at more than reasonable prices. ACT360 is here to help make your technology advancement as affordable as possible.
- May hinder staff camaraderie
As stated above, technology does enhance the communication between employees, however, the reality of remote working may be different. When an employee has to meet with a coworker face-to-face and speak to them on an almost daily basis that does enhance mutual trust and allows the employees to grow closer hence enhancing the work environment in the office.
However, when employees are away from that face-to-face interaction, though they may be more productive, you can find employees not being as friendly or supportive of each other since their main focus is the work at hand. Communication may be easier and faster with technology but can’t replace meaningful and heartfelt face-to-face interactions.
As a business owner, the mandate of creating an environment even in a remote atmosphere that fosters healthy employee relations is paramount. Have group calls and encourage all persons to show their face or present something new they have been doing, apart from work. Activities like this can mitigate this disadvantage.
- The employees need to get familiar
This drawback needs to be taken into serious consideration before introducing any new technology. You should never assume that your employees are able to use some new technology without adequate training.
The cost is definitely going to be a factor, but even if you don’t actually spend to train your staff there will be a significant time taken to learn that technology. After the initial training, there will be a learning curve where the employees have to get used to utilizing the new technology. This process may take a few days to a few weeks, of which time the productivity of your staff will decrease slightly.
To mitigate this disadvantage one should have proper planning in place of who will be trained and when exactly is this technology going to be implemented. For instance, if you are implementing a new cash register system then it won’t be efficient to launch it in a busy time of year where you will be receiving many sales.
CONCLUSION
Technology is only getting more ingrained in our culture and if you are not on this train then it’s time you jump on. It’s apparent how many benefits technology brings to your business and it’s clear that though there are drawbacks, with well-placed decisions you can mitigate those drawbacks and take full advantage of what technology can bring.
