A lot goes into managing a family business. You’re handling inventory, building relationships with customers, and promoting your services, on top of the day-to-day responsibilities that come with keeping the lights on. With each new growth opportunity comes a level of organizational complexity to which every entrepreneur must adapt. Sometimes that means expanding to a larger location, and other times it’s bringing on new staff or expanding capabilities. Regardless of the outcome, one thing remains the same—you’re likely going to be highly selective when it comes to investing in new solutions.
One of the leading investment opportunities for small businesses is bringing on new technology solutions. From IT environments and devices to cloud services and applications, the digital spectrum of tools and solutions presents a vast array of resources for business owners to choose from. Yet, amidst the invoices, engagements, and the dedicated focus that comes with operating your own company, finding the time to thoroughly explore your options can be a challenge. To help alleviate that crunch, we’ve identified the three key tech investments that can help resolve many of your common pain points while empowering your family business to continue to grow its legacy.
Focus 1: Solutions that scale
The challenge with many traditional technology solutions is that they only last for so long. That new server will eventually fill up and in three years the shiny laptop you just bought is going to be out of date. You can either keep replacing your tools as needed, or you commit a significant upfront investment into securing the solutions you might need in the future. Either way, you’re committing resources to goods and services that may not fully serve your best interests.
When it comes to making your next tech investment, look for tools that can scale with your organization. Specifically, cloud services and solutions that can readily adapt to the needs of your organization and are maintained by the provider. If the servers need an update, they have it covered. If you need more storage, your cloud provider has it at the ready, and you aren’t stuck paying for space you don’t need. Not only does this help you access key applications, workloads, and files from nearly anywhere, but it also offers the added benefit of flexible licensing opportunities, so you can add additional users as your business grows.
Focus 2: Tools that save time (and money)
Any tool you bring into your small business ought to simplify your daily operations. That could mean automating your accounting process or just making it easier to track invoices. Look for a solution that allows you to unload static expenses. A shift to the cloud can remove the need for an onsite IT environment, while similar digital solutions can cut out your annual phone bill, merge your email network, and eliminate many of the service calls, energy expenses, and upgrade needs that come with them.
Consider your next investment as an opportunity for you to spend less time doing the things you must do, like bookkeeping and maintenance, and more time focusing on the parts of your business that excited you in the first place.
Focus 3: Resources that let you rest secure
When it comes to protecting your business, there’s little room for error. Between locks and alarms, insurance policies and protection plans, security is just another part of the small business experience. Your technology tools shouldn’t be any different. Cybersecurity represents a huge hurdle for growing organizations at every level, but particularly for organizations that lack the time and resources to dedicate teams to protecting their data. Any future tech investments ought to consider the provider’s security capabilities. Are they up to the standards of your industry? Are they regularly updated to account for new and potential threats? The right investment not only protects your business, but allows you to leverage someone else’s cybersecurity investment at a fraction of the cost.
With a solution that helps you scale, save, and stay secure, you have a technology investment that can not only meet your current demands, but that lights the way as your business continues to grow into the future. If you’d like to learn more about how the tools of tomorrow can help your business, visit PCM Care.
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The post Cost where it counts: Smart tech investments for family businesses appeared first on PCM Blog.