When it comes to technology things are constantly being improved. This means that older software becomes obsolete in no time at all. Outdated software not only impedes business progress, but also makes it more vulnerable to cyber-attacks, which could in turn lead to reduced efficiency, a loss in productivity, and could cause you to lose out on tons of revenue.
Staying up to date with technology and installing software upgrades regularly is your best chance at staying relevant and competitive in the modern business world. Here are a few software upgrades you should seriously look into today.
1. Invest in VoIP
VoIP is short for Voice-over-Internet Protocol. This seems like quite a mouthful and something that has the potential to be incredibly complicated, but it actually isn’t. In simple terms, VoIP allows people to use the internet as their company phone. This makes old, expensive telephone lines a thing of the past.
Gone are the days of crackly phone lines, poor quality calls, and exorbitant phone bills. Even international calls are a breeze and are dirt cheap. Your call is transferred into a digital signal that travels across the web rather than an analog one that travels through a phone line. You can read more about it here. It is important that you take note that your calls may be subject to bandwidth limitations and that as a company you should be investing in uncapped internet that runs at a high speed. If your internet is a bit antiquated, you will not be able to keep up with your competitors.
2. Invest in Cyber Security
Cyber-attacks are becoming increasingly more popular. It is estimated that 71.1 million people are a victim of cybercrime each year. This statistic is only rising. Human error is the biggest contributing factor and is also the easiest to avoid. By simply keeping your systems up to date and using reliable antivirus software you can avoid most cyber security breaches. It is important that you carry out regular IT risk assessments and that you develop an IT risk management process.
You can outsource this process to the pros, or you can do it in-house. The most important aspect though is having a good antivirus installed and doing regular virus scans and software updates to keep your systems running smoothly.
3. Move to the Cloud
The cloud is a magical space. It is the perfect place to keep, or simply backup all of your company and client data. It comes with a large array of benefits for any business. It can reduce spending costs quite a bit. You no longer have to necessarily buy additional internal or external storage for the office, and it streamlines quite a few processes, leading to increased flexibility.
For example, when something is stored on the cloud, it can typically be accessed from anywhere. This means that you don’t have to go into an office and access information from a specific desktop in order to view it. You can view it from any device at any time, making it super convenient if someone is away on a business trip and still need to work. One simply needs the password, and you are good to go.
Cloud storage is actually safer than storing something on your PC. The information is heavily encrypted, so no one can see it, but you. Cloud servers also have people working round the clock to combat any potential cyber-attacks, so their antivirus and cyber detection are far superior to what you can run for your business. PLUS, if the cloud crashes, your information is backed up on multiple servers, which means that there is little to no chance of the cloud losing any of your data.
4. Upgrade your POS system
If you are upgrading anything, this should definitely be on the list. Point-of-sale systems are some of the oldest software innovations for efficiency in business. Old doesn’t mean gold though and for efficiency, these need to be updated. They have changed exponentially since their first iterations and it is definitely for the better. Gone are the days of needing clunky pieces of hardware to run these systems, everything is in one place in a neat little package.
5. Upgrade Your Website and Optimise for Mobile
It seems like everyone has a smartphone these days. Because it can do so much, it should come as a surprise that everyone shops with their smartphones these days, too. If you want to stay relevant you’ll need to update your online presence and optimize for mobile use. This way you avoid missing sales and queries from potential clients. You can use software like Wix, or Squarespace to design the perfect mobile site.
While there are tons of things you can do to make your company more efficient, these software solutions are exactly what you need to kickstart your efficiency. We hope that you’ve found this informative.