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Better, Faster, Stronger: The Important Role Technology Plays in Business Agility
The New York Times recently profiled a world record-setting track team. The article mentions where each team member hails from, describes the men’s diets and exercise regimens, and highlights their most recent athletic accomplishments- which are especially impressive when you consider that all of the men are over 90 years old! Runner Roy Englert, 91, credits his tenacity with helping him win races at an age when many of his peers have difficulty standing. He explains, “People make themselves old. First they say, ‘I’m too old to do this and too old to do that’, and suddenly they look in the mirror and they are old.”
The nonagenarian runners’ perseverance is an admirable quality that can also serve business owners. Just as the athletes refuse to let the mental and physical issues that often come with age stop them from attending meets and improving their speed, business owners should not throw in the towel when faced with changes in the economy, the market, and other obstacles. Like athletes, entrepreneurs must constantly work on their business’ agility to breeze past competitors.
Yes, a business can be agile. In fact, business agility, the quality that allows an enterprise to embrace market and operational changes as a matter of routine, is an attribute shared by the most successful companies. It is no coincidence that businesses that quickly and easily adapt to market and operational changes are also the first ones to adopt the latest technology and technology related policies. SLICE Managed Solutions has identified four technological tools and practices that business owners should implement if they would like to leave their competition in the dust.
4 Technological Tools and Practices to Help Your Business Pick Up Speed:
1. The Cloud
· The cloud may prove to be a ray of sunshine for your business. Cloud computing enables your company to store data and software at a remote location accessible by the Internet. There are many reasons for business owners to implement cloud computing technology. It saves companies money, tidies up offices, and helps to safeguard intellectual property, but perhaps most importantly, it facilitates employee collaboration. The best cloud collaboration services allow employees to upload, edit, and share files from multiple devices, improving communication and increasing productivity.
2. BYOD and CYOD
· We feel as if we have been urging you to consider adopting a Being Your Own Device (BYOD) policy since those nonagenarian runners were in their infancy, but we feel so strongly about it, we have no problem doing it again. If you will recall, a BYOD program permits employees to use their personal smartphone, tablet, or laptop to access company data and perform job responsibilities. A CYOD program works similarly, except the organization places restrictions on which devices employees can choose from. Which model is superior? That depends on the values of your company. Before you begin soul searching and weighing the pros and cons of each, know that, like cloud collaboration technology, both models support a mobile workforce, a key component of an agile business.
3. Social Media
· Regardless of the industry, your role as a business owner is to give your customers what they want. Unless you are skilled in the art of telepathy, the only way to discover what it is customers want is by interacting with them. Not too long ago, businesses would do this through time consuming practices, like cold calling, but social media has changed the game. Setting-up a social media account for your business is easy and usually free. A social media presence not only saves you time by enabling you to communicate with all of your customers and potential customers at once, it acts as a permanent advertisement, remaining on the Internet long after your employees have clocked out for the day. Furthermore, it provides you with a clear picture of your target demographic; your average customer’s age, gender, hobbies, etc… crucial knowledge for creating an effective marketing campaign.
4. Video Conferencing
· Last but not least, your company’s utilization of video conferencing technology could mean the difference between clearing hurdles and having to drop out of the race. Telephone conversations with colleagues and clients in other locations render many expensive business trips unnecessary, but purely audio conversation is no substitute. Video conferencing technology offers the best of both worlds by allowing you to take in telling non-verbal cues and see presentations and projects in real time from the comfort of your own business. Dr. Gert-Jan Huisman, CEO of leading building climatization company, Centrotec, ascribes much of his business’ success to videoconferencing technology, explaining that it “offers us the ability to scale quickly and cost-effectively to meet changing demand, which further supports business agility.”
If your company were a person, would you want it to be the kind of person who holds onto their VCR because it “still works” and yells at the neighborhood kids to “get off the lawn” or would you rather it be someone like 91-year-old runner, Roy Englert, someone committed to self-improvement who embraces new experiences? Implementing the aforementioned tools and practices will make it more natural for your business to grow into the latter. If you would like to go the extra mile, contact us for a free consultation so that we can begin collaborating on a custom business agility plan!