How emerging technologies can transform your business

In this day and age technology is a part of everyday life and is being used to enhance and support traditional methods of business practice.

This is being referred to as the 'digital transformation' and it's all about how companies are leveraging technology and the new opportunities it provides. 

Incorporating technology with your company doesn't have to be a complicated process, in fact, it can actually simplify your processes.

Let's have a look at some examples:

Let's say you work for a busy veterinary practice, you have a lot of appointments daily and you also have a wide range of products you sell on the shop floor. You generally have people lining up in queues to reach reception, either to purchase shelf items or to book in for appointments. You could increase efficiency by having an online e-commerce website where customers can purchase shelf products and have them delivered. or have a self-service check-in for people arriving, notifying you they are here for an appointment.

This would decrease queues, increase customer satisfaction and increase sales of products for people who may not be able to come in-store to make purchases. 

Or perhaps you work in an office environment and you have more than one location. You have a different phone number for each of the locations and frequently receive phone calls having to ask the caller to ring a different number. You could change the way your phone system works, enabling you to transfer between locations and individuals, saving time and efficiently putting a happy customer in touch with who they want to speak with. 

In another scenario, you have multiple outbound sales reps, driving from customer to customer for meetings. They have to return to the office to complete quotations and respond to customer requests daily.

If you provided each sales rep with a tablet, they could pull up relevant information as the customer requests it. This is going to have the customer feeling like they are receiving great customer service as the sales rep is efficient and prepared, and more time for the sales rep to reach more customers in a day, increasing profitability.

In each of these examples, there was a traditional method used. It was how they have been working for a long time. However, due to the way the customers and consumers are evolving with the use of technology, the businesses needed to evolve as well in order to keep up, stay relevant and appeal to their customer demographic.

So, I bet your question now is "How do I introduce emerging technologies into my business?"

A great place to start is to consult with an expert, someone who has the technical knowledge and a passion for keeping up with trends. A fresh pair of eyes from outside your business structure is always a good idea.