Keeping your company relevant with the rapid advancement of technology can be easier than most people think. When you start focusing on the health and maintenance of your current tech, you can find areas to invest in the newest tools and techniques. It’s also essential to stay up-to-date with your market research and tech innovations to spot upgrades your business can benefit from investing in.
Maintain your tech infrastructure
A healthy technological base for your company is crucial to keeping relevance in the market. Maintaining your hardware, software, and up-to-date personnel training ensures a healthy tech infrastructure now and into the future. This maintenance includes everything from updating your software to multi-factor authentication. A crucial part of your tech infrastructure is your cloud security or cloud computing security. This security comprises the policies, tools, technologies, controls and applications used to keep your network’s cloud-based data, systems and infrastructure secure.
Be flexible, but structured
You want your company and approach to technology to be flexible enough to roll with the punches but not so loose that each employee has a different procedure for the same process. One way to increase flexibility in tech and integration is to encourage employee feedback on ways to streamline workflow and adapt applications to your processes. A structured core for operations, policies and practices will make optimizing business functions and streamline workflow easier without making tech integration more difficult.
Inform processes with customer market interactions
Embrace the tech of Big Data and analytics by studying how customers interact with the market and using those interactions to inform how you evolve your processes. For instance, most consumers will shop from mobile devices and take advantage of services like curbside pickup or third-party delivery apps. These interactions can inform your processes by inspiring you to focus on convenience in your customer service and invest in tech designed to do just that.
Train yourself and your employees on tech
Training your employees and yourself on the tech around you does not mean you must only hire IT specialists for every position, from chief cook to bottlewasher. Still, it does mean that you will want to stay up-to-date on cybersecurity concepts like multi-factor authentication, software update schedules and network security. For example, if a personal device has been connected to a public wifi network and then connects to your company’s network, you are creating a loophole for malware and viruses to infect your systems.
Get involved with innovative projects
Chances are that your industry has some next-generation innovative projects in the works to boost the positive impact of tech on companies and customers. Getting involved with these projects can help you keep your tech systems state-of-the-art and keep your company ahead of the competition.
Stay updated on industry-adjacent trends
It is not only your industry that is innovating new tech for companies like yours; adjacent industries can have tech trends that will positively affect your company and industry with a suitable application of hardware or software. By keeping an eye on those trends, you can better spot the ones you should integrate into your systems or invest in for future development. For instance, the use of the Internet-of-Things in the logistics industry to track the movement of goods and personnel can be adapted to highlight bottlenecks on your production lines or how conveniently placed your printers are to those who use them the most.
Keeping your business relevant in the tech world does not have to look like investing in all the shiniest toys; it can also mean maintaining your current systems while looking for innovative new tech applications in your industry or adjacent ones. Developing cyber security habits, tech research contacts, and investing in the right new idea is vital.
