Leveraging technology within your business model can lay down the path for improved productivity, smoother operation, and increased profits.
Although technology can do wonders when it comes to improving the efficiency of any business, most business owners have no idea when it comes to implementing and integrating the right IT systems into their organizations. The majority of organizations agree that strategic business decisions should be based on congregated data, but only 19% claim to be actually planning their analytics/big data initiatives.
Given the highly competitive nature of business today, regardless of the industry you’re operating in, streamlining your business processes through the use of technology can be the competitive edge you need to stay ahead of your counterparts.
Here are some of the many ways technology can help streamline your business operations…
1. Predictive Analytics Help with Better Decision Making
Intelligent technologies such as machine learning-based predictive analytics have become more widespread in recent times and are finding their way into board members’ and leaders’ daily activities. Behind the reporting screens of key decision-makers and managers today are intelligent reporting dashboards and tools that provide them data within seconds. According to findings of one recent survey, 63% of the CFOs and 52% of the survey respondents express that their decision outcomes improve considerably when using such tools.
Predictive analytics forecasts future outcomes based on current and historical data. It uses various statistical and data modeling techniques to study repetitive patterns within past data, identify trends based on those patterns, and help make more informed business decisions based on the findings.
The increasing demand for effective data analytics in the current business realm has brought predictive analytics to intertwine with machine learning algorithms. Today, predictive analytics extensively uses machine learning for data modeling due to its potential to process vast amounts of data with accuracy and identify patterns.
The insights furnished by predictive analytics can help businesses segment customers based on their purchase patterns and response rate, which can further help in developing marketing strategies that are specifically tailored to each segment’s characteristics. Machine learning-based predictive analytics also aids businesses in identifying customers who are on the verge of leaving. Such insights entitle businesses to design content and packages which suit the customers’ needs, thus helping in retaining customers and attracting new ones.
2. Integrated Software Solutions Facilitate Easy Exchange of Data
A business generally encompasses a few disparate structures (or departments) that work together in sync for its smooth functioning – right from a billing department to deal with accounts, a sales department to handle product/ service sales to customers, payments and invoicing, a customer service department that maintains service quality, handles customer queries, and looks after their satisfaction, and some businesses may have more departments.
By utilizing integrated software solutions, each of these business elements can manage information from a centralized system by easily sharing data with one another. Using such integrated software can simplify a lot of business processes making it easier to manage both employees and customers. Custom software solutions can also be used in conjunction with smart devices. This will completely change the way business operations are carried out within the organization.
One way in which businesses can make use of integrated software solutions for easy data management is by leveraging audio to text transcription. Whether you’re a diagnostician recording voice notes on a patient, a digital marketing company recording the views and reflections of a focus group or a police officer recording a witness statement, this solution can lend itself extremely well to a variety of industry use cases. You can do everything right from improving your business’ strategic coherence, increasing its operational efficiency and enhancing your data security with an audio to text transcription software.
Another excellent way to leverage integrated software solutions is by having a mobile app developed for its employees. This modern communications platform enables employees to receive personalized, time-sensitive and relevant information from their organization, wherever they are, on their mobile devices simply by accessing an app or through push notifications – so they stay informed about the company’s happenings and can do their jobs more efficiently. This feature can prove to be equally beneficial in case of emergencies.
3. Cloud Computing can Manage Data and Resources Equally Well
Cloud computing is a lucrative way to manage your IT resources and team alike. The centralized databases and the ease of access that cloud computing provides mean that your employees can access and update data from anywhere while on the go.
It has also transformed the way IT resources are purchased and used within a business today. With cloud computing, organizations don’t have to invest in purchasing entire software packages for every individual employee. Instead, they can pay for software as and when the need arises using subscription based models.
As cloud technology continually undergoes improvements, it is also becoming undemanding for companies to create services and products within the cloud, or model new products or even marketing campaigns as cloud-based software prototypes. The cloud has also gone down to become a common storehouse for the assemblage and analysis of new data, and the platform where a growing number of artificial intelligence operations, like speech and image recognition, are conducted.
The ride-hailing company Uber has, time and again, emphasized the significance of a hybrid cloud model within its operations to ensure not just constant uptime for its customers, but an indivisible relationship between the development and deployment of its products. Uber is able to model a virtual fleet of taxis from private cars through a combination of large-scale data analysis, mobile software, mapping, and social networking. Cloud computing brings significant cost savings when it comes to managing and implementing IT resources for your business.
4. Business Process Automation Can Help Save Costs
Business process automation (BPA) has transformed business operations today. It’s a simple, budget-friendly way to optimize your operations while simultaneously reducing your overall business spending. You can start discerning these benefits right after you’ve automated a department. It doesn’t take long to see ROI from automation software.
BPA takes over tiresome, monotonous tasks like matching invoices and data entry off your staff so they can focus on other important ones directly contributing towards the company’s growth. Chances are, many of your employees are already overwhelmed by how much they have to do owing to staff shortages, especially if you’re running a startup. And since they’re not spending so much time on what feels like busy work, automation helps keep your tech-savvy employees happy and stress-free to some extent.
You can’t really think of making intelligent financial decisions for the future unless you can get an accurate look at the state of your money matters right now. Since automation works so swiftly and maintains records of every project, invoice, report, etc. you get instant access to the most accurate data available. That sort of data empowers you to make more accurate financial forecasts and manage capital projects efficiently. BPA cuts down on business costs and provides more reliable outcomes in results.
About the Author
Rahul Varshneya is the co-founder and president of Arkenea, a digital health consulting firm. Rahul has been featured as a technology thought leader across Bloomberg TV, Forbes, HuffPost, Inc, among others.
