An entrepreneurial spirit is essential to starting a business. However, you need more than that to become successful and stay successful. Technology plays a pivotal role in starting a small business.

Tech is everpresent almost everywhere you look. Businesses of all sizes would be hard-pressed to survive today without the help of technology. Not only do you have to utilize tech, but you have to keep up with tech advancements to stay in stride with competitors. When just starting out, you should be equipped with the proper tech to set your small business up for success.

How To Prepare Your Small Business With Tech

One of the most common mistakes small businesses make in the beginning is failing to plan effectively. When outlining your business plan, it’s helpful to keep a digital copy of it on something like Google Drive. This way, current and future employees can access important company info, including:

• Financial projections and budget;
• Target market;
• Marketing tactics;
• Competitor research;
• Hiring plans;
• Employee care plans;
• Communication tools;
• Cybersecurity strategy;
• Efficiency goals;
• Growth projections;
• Adaptable tech.

Tech is always going to be updated throughout the years — sometimes more slowly or quickly depending on your industry. Keep a loose set of guidelines for adopting new tech, such as how much budget is set aside for upgrades, a timeline for when to upgrade, and how to disseminate the tech and uptrain staff.

Your small business strategy will look different depending on your industry and specific goals. The important part is to keep it accessible, and the best way to do so is through digital means. This is also a great way to share important company assets, including those needed for marketing your business.

Easier, More Effective Branding

You likely know why you started your small business. Your values and mission need to then be translated into branding. This message should be clear across digital channels, and tech can help facilitate this in the most effective way. Look at what similar-size competitor brands are doing for inspiration. Ask yourself what colors, imagery, and words best represent how you want your brand to be perceived.

Then, you can play around with digital tools that help bring this representation to life. Digital assets, for example, include files that are used to represent your business’ brand and values online. They can include branded colors, fonts, images, logos, and more. The internet opens up a whole world of competitor research when deciding how to design these digital marketing assets.

 For example, logo design typically leans heavily on tech tools. Everything from Canva to Adobe Photoshop can be used to develop logo prototypes and the eventual final draft you go with. You can also see if competitors tweak their logos for certain times, like Pride month, and adjust your main logo template in whichever software you choose. If you’re stuck on names or logo designs, there are even AI tools like Namelix that allow you to put in keywords that have to do with your business and generate unique ideas to stand out in your industry.

Safer, More Efficient Workflows

All small businesses can benefit from workflow optimization. Thankfully, tech can be used during all parts of production to streamline processes. The more time you can save for your small business employees, the better. Use the following tech tools to optimize your time and improve your bottom line.

Cloud-based Optimization and Sharing

Your specific industry will also determine how you use tech to optimize efficiency. For example, if you utilize warehouses to store products, there are specific tech tools to help. Industry 4.0 tech for warehouses improves efficiency in many ways, including cloud-based inventory systems that provide real-time updates on stock and order processing. This can then be shared with team members that need prompt access to this information. If any of the workflows or teams change, you can edit this virtually in no time at all.

Automation of Processes

The Internet of Things (IoT) connects all your tech together so it communicates smoothly and provides you with the information you need to optimize your new business. For instance, employees can use handheld devices to communicate with your CRM software to update stock levels.

Warehouses and other parts of your business can benefit from automation. For example, you can set your system to automatically place orders to replenish stock when it is low. Machines can be automated as well, such as palletizers or conveyors. With all these interconnected devices, you can track the performance of machines and employees to see where processes need to be optimized.

Employee Satisfaction and Performance

Educate staff on tech whenever possible and assure them that there are lateral or higher positions they can obtain in the company if their role becomes automated. Explain that their expertise in their specific role positions them to be the first point of contact when incorporating tech, and they can manage this tech if they choose to do so.

Tech can even help with this education. Offer uptraining and educational opportunities for employees via online courses. Employees will likely be more satisfied if they have the chance to advance.

The Great Resignation has arisen out of an awareness of being overworked and underpaid. If you can optimize your processes and listen to employee feedback using tech, this will help you mitigate turnover and employee attrition. Further, you can even optimize your hiring process using software like application tracking systems (ATS) or human resource information systems (HRIS). These software services give you the most information possible about who you’re hiring and how to cater to their needs while ensuring a smooth hiring process and a positive ROI.

Security Measures

Financial security is crucial to running a successful small business. Although profitability takes an average of three to four years to come to fruition, you can use tech along the way to forecast earnings and expenditures to keep afloat. Instead of keeping this in physical files or spreadsheets, you can encrypt your sensitive financial data online.

Tech can enhance data security. This includes employee, company, and client information that should be kept safe from hackers or competitors. Data breaches negatively impact business reputation, and businesses of all sizes want to avoid this mishap. Start cybersecurity measuring during employee onboarding and continue throughout the lifecycle of each employee and your business.

Make the Most Out of Data

All this technology for your business will give you valuable insight. Take the data that you gather from these different systems and apply it to optimize your processes. Often, tech systems will have automated insights on the software dashboard that allow you to get an overview. However, narrow down your ultimate goals for success in order to determine the most pertinent business data. Then, use tech to optimize even further.