We live in a fast-moving environment and Covid 19 has driven millions of businesses into embracing new ways of running their business. In reality we’re witnessing changes that were going to happen anyway… it’s just arrived a lot faster than anyone predicted!
The Pandemic forced businesses into rethinking their processes but for many it meant the end of the road due to their inability to move quickly to an online environment, especially those in the bricks and mortar retail sector!
This is a valuable lesson in how important it is to keep abreast of the latest technology, even if a business does not adapt immediately, at least be aware of what technology can do for your business.
Here are just a few areas that a business should pay attention to…
Use of QR Codes
These have been around for a very long time, originally created in Japan in 1994 by the automotive company Toyota as a way to keep track of vehicles and parts in the manufacturing process. But as the Pandemic took hold they became instantly recognisable throughout the world because of the need to create a touchless environment!
They are an extremely flexible form of technology that can assist enormously in streamlining business processes. Perhaps of most relevance to a business is that consumers instantly recognise them and the functionality they provide and will not hesitate to scan them if it’s a service/product they’re interested in!
Evaluate the importance of Mobile to your business
Irrespective of whether you’re a B2B or B2C business, the way your customers interact with you online has changed. Businesses having a predominant physical office environment make more use of desktop PC’s but with the trend moving rapidly to a work from home environment or a mixture of both, then there is a growing dependency on mobile devices.
This in itself can present security issues where staff accessing their employer’s software system are suddenly at greater risk of being hacked and inadvertently giving access to that system to bad actors. This is because their device security is very likely to be much weaker than their employers!
Most businesses use a third party software system to operate their business but with the greater reliance on employees working from home, then accessing that system on mobile or tablet devices takes on a more significant role as the system needs to be mobile friendly otherwise productivity and efficiency could be jeopardised.
Those B2C businesses will face a more difficult challenge in that the vast majority of customers will engage with them on their mobile device and so it is extremely important to ensure that their consumer facing website is mobile friendly. Consumers attention spans are now less than a goldfish (3 secs) and landing on a webpage that is not mobile friendly will only result in them immediately going elsewhere… and possibly never coming back!
Social Media – its growth and importance to small businesses
Social media plays an important role in the lives of billions of people and businesses across all sectors have benefited from developing a presence on social media. With staff working more and more remotely now, then it is more important than ever to ensure they keep social media posts relevant to personal matters and not work related. This would not just be for security reasons, as mentioned above, but the Privacy of customers personal data where a data breach can be frighteningly damaging for a business!