Ready to level up your business? With business solutions technology, you can innovate your commercial enterprise while making your processes for operating the business more efficient. With a range of technology available for businesses and individuals, you should take advantage of all of the tech opportunities at your disposal.
While it takes some time to implement new technology solutions into your business, you shouldn’t let the fear of them not working right away influence your decision to use them. The sooner you install new technology measures for your business or pass down orders to your subordinates that they should use certain tech in their daily activities, the sooner you’ll see the results of pulling your company into the digital era. Although long-time business owners might feel overwhelmed by all of the options available for increasing the presence of tech in your business, it’s an innovation like any other that’s worth considering for your company.
Choosing the Right Business Technology
Not every technological solution for your business will be the right one. As the owner and operator of a commercial enterprise, it’s your job to weigh the pros and cons of innovation and tailor your decisions to meet your company’s long-term goals. Even if a new piece of tech is the best on the market, it might still not be useful for your industry or the vision you have in mind for your business and that’s okay.
Before you can discover the ideal tech solution for your company, you should consider what problems are facing your company. After all, solutions are designed to resolve issues and meet needs so you must define those issues before you can move forward in this process. If you’re not sure what aspects of your business would benefit from technological advancements, you may want to get a consultant from outside of your company to come into your business and identify potential issues.
Hiring outside consultants can also help you choose which implementation strategy would be most helpful for your business. Having the right technology is only one piece of the puzzle–figuring out how to implement it is just as important. You can either test out the technology with some senior staff before offering it to your lower levels of staffing or you can have a company-wide training that introduces the technology to all of your employees. The choice for how you handle all of this from which problem to address first to how to roll out a tech solution is up to you.
Drainage Companies
For these types of companies, updating technology to reflect the current best practices of local farm drainage services may be your best bet as a business owner. You can either use business solutions technology that’s specifically designed for drainage services or utilize generalized business technology to improve the functioning of your business. You can also use a combination of specialized tech and generalized tech to get the best of both worlds if that sounds like a good plan to you.
As a drainage company, you may want to think about using technology to track your draining jobs. You can create a simple spreadsheet to account for invoices that have been received, those that have been paid, business expenses, and more. There may also be apps that could help your employees manage their workload more efficiently when they’re out in the field doing the hard work that this industry requires.
Auto Repair Shops
Auto repair companies can take advantage of different types of business solutions technology to streamline their repair processes and increase profits. For those who are interested in expanding their shop to sell products to car owners, it can be fun to use an e-commerce platform to sell items like windshield wipers or power window kits to folks outside of your typical range of business. On top of being an enjoyable use of time during the work day, this can produce extra revenue that you can either invest back into your business or save for a rainy day.
Auto repair businesses may also benefit from using technology to create an estimate spreadsheet that factors the cost of labor, materials, and fees for potential clients. This can make it so that you spend less time on the phone with potential clients going through a quote. It can also make it easier for you to keep your prices consistent, which customers will love enough to share with their friends through word-of-mouth advertising.
Outside of quotes and e-commerce, auto repair businesses can expand their services to include digital diagnostics if they use the right kinds of technology. With diagnostic tools available for identifying a problem efficiently, you can save yourself and your clients time and money by making it easier than ever to see what’s wrong under the hood of a vehicle in an instant. If you’ve never used digital diagnostic tools, taking a class that teaches you how to use these tools can make it so that you can pass this knowledge on to the mechanics in your shop after you’ve gotten a handle on how to navigate them.
Roofers
For roofing companies, business solutions technology can make managing orders, documenting inventory, sending invoices, and more a snap. If you’re part of a small group of local roofing contractors, you may benefit from asking other roofing professionals which technology they use to upgrade their business. Take a roofing professional you respect who has innovative ideas about business out to lunch or happy hour and pick their brain about the technology they use in exchange for free dinner or drinks. In this way, you’ll win with extra knowledge and have established a deeper professional connection with an industry leader in your area.
Business technology for roofing doesn’t stop at managing your business. You can also use tech to test roofing materials for issues, document progress on a job, and communicate with your clients. Additionally, you can and should use tech to identify patterns in the weather that may affect your ability to complete jobs on time during any given week.
For seasonal workers, using technology to decide which times and days would be best for scheduling a project can make it so that you don’t lose out on money because of inclement weather. In an ideal world, it would be sunny and beautiful outside all the time. As any roofing professional knows, the world is not ideal so we sometimes need a technological leg up on the competition to avoid canceling projects at the last minute when a client is banking on us to show up on time. Even if poor weather doesn’t bother you, your clients may not want to risk you being on their roof when the weather is bad so it’s best to check it before heading to a job and let a client know if you anticipate imperfect conditions for completing your tasks.
Legal Practices
For any law firm, using business solutions technology can make the difference between a client choosing to hire you or another attorney for the job. Since lawyers spend a lot of time researching and writing, having technology that helps you do these tasks efficiently can help you make the most of your billable hours. For criminal defense attorneys, using tech to access information about your client and the opposing side can prepare you to win in trial every time.
On top of aggregating information and producing written documents, you can use technology to bill clients and manage files. Gone are the days when you would have to wait for someone to write you a check or hand you the appropriate amount of cash to pay a bill. Now, you can have someone pay you on the same day with an online payment platform.
As an attorney, you may have to handle large sums of money. In this case, you should ensure that the online payment platform you choose is secure and safe to use for your purposes. Since scammers may be able to hack into your account and intercept funds, you can never be too careful when it comes to selecting an online payment portal that you can trust.
Headstone Companies
While headstone businesses may feel like they’re stuck in the “stone” age, there’s a lot you can do to implement business solutions technology in your headstone company. Those who design memorial headstones such as memorial headstone companies may benefit from using online software to make those designs. You can then present your clients with a mockup of the design and ask if they would like to make any changes before you start working on the headstone.
Metal Fabricators
For metal fabricating professionals, using business solutions technology can be a good idea if you find yourself struggling to make accurate measurements for metal items like stairway railings and window frames. Since these projects require accurate measurements so that all the pieces can fit together at the end, every metal fabrication company should use updated design software that factors those figures into the designs it produces. While you could try to take these measurements by hand, there’s no sense in resisting advancements that are there to increase your productivity and decrease the amount of errors you make in your work life.
Concrete Companies
From companies that produce materials for concrete to those who have contractors that pour it, using business solutions technology can be a game changer for your concrete business. While concrete might be an old material, new technology can simplify the process of applying it. By updating your technology to fit the best practices of local concrete contractors, your business can compete with the competition and win new clients who might prefer you to have advanced tech in your business.
Plumbers
From high-tech water testing to design software, there are a few business solutions technology that plumbing professionals should use whenever possible. Instead of guessing about potential contaminants in water or sending a sample off to a distant lab, you may be able to use technology to conduct some testing for contaminants like lead on the job site. While some local plumbers might not feel comfortable updating their services to reflect technological advances, others may welcome the changes in this industry thanks to advances in tech.
Plumbers may also benefit from updating their website to have a more modern look. Even though looks shouldn’t matter on the internet, they do in the current business client. If your website hasn’t been updated since 2000, it’s time to either hire a web developer or learn how to make it look more modern with some basic HTML skills.
Demolition Companies
To tear down structures, demolition services should leverage business solutions technology designed for their industry. With current technology, local demolition companies can track their projects, expenses, and more using dedicated software. You can also make customer service more efficient by having automated responses when someone calls your company. This may also reduce the amount of time you spend facing customers so you can focus on getting demolition jobs done.
Furniture Rental Companies
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For furniture renters and retailers, business solutions technology can help you keep track of inventory, due dates, payments, and more. If you provide corporate event furniture rentals, you can also use technology to remind businesses when to return furniture they’ve rented. Innovating your furniture rental business can be as simple as updating your website or as complex as creating an online system for renters to manage their rentals. When implementing these changes seems like too much work, you can hire outside professionals to design your website and perform other tasks so you can devote your energy to managing your business while doing what you do best.
In short, business solutions technology can boost your business by increasing traffic to your business, making administrative tasks easier, and streamlining payments. No matter what industry your business occupies, you’ll find that technology can make it less of a hassle to run. Even if you’re skeptical of technological advancements, it’s good to be aware of how they could help your business.
When you fail to implement technology into your business, you risk falling behind the times. After a while, you could lose business if you don’t innovate with tech trends. Still, you should follow your principles while pursuing commercial success.
