Nandini Sharma November 4, 2021 Even though starting a small IT company is a significant achievement, running and operating one is far from easy. Software startups face many frequent challenges on many fronts:
- high competition
- onboarding the right people,
- data security risk
- task management
- time management
- collaboration issues
- attracting customers
- maintaining customers
These are times when nothing comes easy for tech-based or even non-IT businesses. Challenges will be there. Rather than fretting and whining about them, these obstacles have to be tackled through careful planning and executing of smart business growth strategies.
The good news is that no matter the size and scale of hurdles tech businesses face, these can still be overcome with the execution of right ideas.
Read on to learn some tried and tested methods that can help your small tech business stay in line with the organizational goals and achieve them eventually.
Let’s get started.
- Avail Cloud Computing Services
Small tech businesses can save valuable time and money (and space too!) by availing cloud computing services rather than owning and operating their own IT infrastructure. Using cloud computing means that you only pay for what you use, and avoid upfront costs related to maintaining dedicated servers and hiring specialized people to do it.
Cloud computing services offer you a wide range of options, from basic file storage, networking to project management, team collaboration, artificial intelligence, and much more. You and your team can collaborate and access data on secured servers (provided by the host) from any location (with internet connectivity).
Three main service models of cloud computing are:
- IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), pay-as-you-go
- PaaS (Platform as a Service), hardware and software tools available online
- SaaS (Software as a Service), third-party software services like ProofHub, available online
So, you can pick one according to your requirements and enjoy the benefits.
- Leveraging The Influence Of Social Media
The power and influence of social media in conveying a range of audio-visual information to users within minutes can be compared to a forest fire, which spreads at lightning speed. Why not leverage this speedy and far-reaching connectivity (target both domestic and international customers)to benefit your small tech business?
The best thing about using various social media platforms (Reddit, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook,) to advertise and promote your business is that they are free! You can also use dedicated tools to measure and analyze the performance of each of your social media marketing campaigns across various platforms.
While it’s not recommended to stop using traditional marketing methods (phone, direct mail, print, broadcast, etc.) and embrace social media, you can reduce the usage of the former to bring down advertising expenditure.
- Invest In Collaboration Tools For Automating Tasks And Projects
Using the best technology is paramount for operational efficiency. Investing in top-rated project management and team collaboration tools like ProofHub, Basecamp, and Slack can help your teams achieve more in less time as most tasks are automated. Not only do these tools allow easy task management, they also promote transparent work culture sans confusion and misunderstanding.
These software applications keep your team members, clients, and stakeholders on the same page throughout the course of the entire project. These tools are designed to work across multiple devices, which means you and your team can also use them on the go. Many collaboration tools also come with a time management feature, which helps spread accountability within the organization.
- Be An Eco-Friendly Tech Business
Most businesses do not realize how they end up draining a significant amount of time and money due to unnecessary power consumption and office supplies, like paper, ink cartridges, files, etc. These seemingly small expenses easily add up over time, which you can reduce significantly. Building an eco-friendly and sustainable business is the way to go.
By making little changes to the way your team works, you’ll be taking the right steps towards contributing to making your business green. Consider making following eco-friendly changes:
- Using less paper for storing and maintaining records by switching to digital file management systems
- Less paper usage means less money spent on office supplies, ink cartridges, and paper
- Turn off lights when you leave the room, switch off monitors when not in use
- Using energy-efficient electronics
- Have an energy audit done
- Cut Down On Pointless Meetings
Meetings can be productive or sheer time wasters. Frequent meetings that you can do without should not be there at all as these dominate most of your days at work. Also, you should avoid having long meetings. Rather, make the most of your meetings by keeping them short, to-the-point so that they do not disrupt the workflow of your business.
In-person meetings can be costly as these have related costs like that of travel, food, and sometimes even accommodation. Holding virtual meetings over face-to-face meetings is another area where SMEs can save some good money.
The Bottom Line
Small businesses have to take every step carefully, especially when they’ve just started out. The key to any business’ success is making the most of available resources. By saving time and money, SMEs can cut down on unnecessary expenditure and increase their revenue figures.
Implementing these five proven strategies and your business will surely stand to gain a lot. Best of luck!
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