5 Technologies That Will Transform Small Businesses

As a small business owner, your ability to adapt to the marketplace dictates whether you will sink or swim. To avoid losing too much money, you’ll need to meet demand and do everything in your power to keep your operation afloat. Now is the time for small business owners to adopt new technologies into their way of working.

While change can be a scary thing, it’s a must for business growth and raking in profits. Here are some technologies that will change how your small business runs for the better and ultimately, enhance the customer experience for your brand.

Chatbots

24/7 customer service chatbots enable businesses to give their customers full-time support, without the need for full-time staff being behind the screen manning it. You will find many small businesses have already incorporated chatbots into their operation. What’s more, lots of customers like using bots to solve their problems quickly.

There are plenty of services like LiveChat that help you deliver automated customer service across numerous channels, as well as monitor and respond to enquiries as needed. Over time, you will receive data from your customers that you can analyse and learn more about. The benefits of chatbots are countless. For one, they increase customer engagement. Secondly, they improve lead generation. Chatbots can also lower customer service costs, monitor consumer data, and balance automation with a human touch.

Security Tech

There doesn’t seem to be a day that goes by without a story in the news about a company facing a security breach. Even the top dogs aren’t immune from a cyberattack. This means small businesses will need to do everything possible to protect the privacy of their customers.

To lower the chance o a data breach, you need to make it your priority to upgrade your tech and train your team on security protocol. Some of the key starting points include using an email encryption service, managing, and changing passwords frequently, and instructing staff on best practices for reporting and avoiding email phishing scams. You can also look into award winning IT support by Totality Services. They are IT support London specialists when it comes to cybersecurity and can help put tools in place to keep your operation safe and secure from cybercriminals.

Wearable Tech

Whether you are looking at ways to boost productivity in the workplace, or after another channel to reach your customers, wearable tech like Fitbit or the Apple Watch can change how you converse in your day-to-day business. In fact, giants like Amazon already use GPS trackers in their warehouses. This is to boost the efficiency of their workers.

While you may think the most popular piece of wearable tech to benefit your business is an Apple Watch, fitness trackers in particular are often associated with businesses negotiating lower rates on collective insurance policies. There’s no doubt about it, wearable tech can boost employee productivity, improve communication, enhance safety, and elevate the customer service experience.

3-D Printing

Cool gadgets from the past are today’s disruptive technology. 3-D printers in particular offer businesses the freedom to turn around affordable prototypes in a single day. This means everyone from biomedical engineers to tech start-ups will be working at a faster rate. 3-D tech also makes customisation and personalisation easier and more affordable for businesses to offer their customers.

There are an array of advantages attached to 3-D printing for your small business. These include realistic prototypes, higher production volume, decreased development time, and quicker turnaround times. What’s more, using 3-D printing can save you money.

Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence

While it may sound like the future, machine learning has long impacted how we interact with the tools on our computers and laptops. For instance, Gmail’s spam filter uses a robust algorithm that identifies and sorts messages based on their content. Before long, this algorithm ‘learns’ how to spot messages that use odd syntax or messages that are sent from strange email addresses. When this happens, the tool marks it as spam. Ultimately, this keeps your inbox spam-free.

Big retailers up and down the country use this same tech to enhance their online customer service. In the coming years, businesses all over are expected to spend trillions of pounds on IT services. A big portion of this is expected to fund machine learning tech. For small businesses who don’t have access to such resources, keep a close eye on what start-ups do with machine learning tech. Doing so will keep you ahead of the pack and add extra protection to your business.

Small businesses from all sectors should embrace change, rather than fear it. There is an abundance of new technologies that small companies are using to improve how they operate and keep customers coming back for more. Any of the technologies above can yield brilliant results for your business and keep it running on the right track.