August 2018
The Technology Checklist Every Growing Business Needs
Let’s speak candidly for a moment here: growth is very much on the mind of every business owner – even if they’re not immediately aware of it. The ambition to create something and nurture it until it grows into a success is almost certainly encoded into the DNA of business owners, and that’s a great precursor to a growth mindset.
But when it comes to actually expanding the business – employing new members of the team, offering new services, even just switching up the work environment – owners need more than just their ambition to grow successfully. Indeed, they need the right people, the right plans, and the right tools (and often, a lot of patience while things come to fruition).
While the people and the plans can only be decided by the owners themselves, the Lunar Team have put our heads together – and used our experience working with our successful clients – to create a technology checklist for businesses ready to grow. What follows are questions, tools and suggestions for arming yourself and your business for growth – enjoy!
Consider the Cloud
In order to grow, we often have to escape the confines of our current situation, and for businesses these confines can often include on-site servers and massive amounts of paperwork. These things can end up weighing your business down, slowing processes, and prevents you from keeping up with competitors and their systems. So, the first thing to consider is the cloud and what your business can do with it.
Do you have a Bespoke CRM?
Come on, you know we had to mention it. When it comes to helping businesses to communicate with their customers and manage data and reporting, a CRM is exactly what they need. For small businesses just starting out, an off-the-shelf solution is clearly the first port of call – at that point in the business’ life, there might not be the experience of specific challenges just yet, or knowledge of pain points. When you’re setting your sights on growing, however, you’ll need a CRM which can keep up and provide you with all the data you need to implement strategies – and that’s where a bespoke CRM solution comes in.
How Good is Your Connection?
Whether it’s using a bespoke CRM solution, checking emails or updating your LinkedIn, your online business activity needs a solid internet connection in order to interact with customers, deliver work on time, and keep the business firmly planted in the 21st century. If you’re struggling with slow speeds, this might be at the top of your list – for everyone else, you may end up thinking about it further down the line.
Protect Your Data
Although small businesses can still be targets for data theft and hacking, as a business grows it becomes more susceptible to such threats. What’s more, there’s an increased amount of data being stored and more of the business relies on said data. With that in mind, your growth plans need to take into consideration ways to keep your data safe – and backed up! You might also consider a disaster recovery plan to assist in dealing with the worst-case scenario (it can happen).
Update Your Software and Hardware
Although a bespoke CRM tool will be updated by your crack team at Lunar CRM, you’ll need to ensure your other software is up to date as you gear up for growth. Not only does out of date software pose a risk to data protection (see: WannaCry’s attack on the NHS), it can also slow your employees down and prevent them from upping their game as you grow. This also goes for hardware, such as computers, which need to be able to help your team to deliver work.
Check You’re Willing to Embrace Innovation
Ask anybody who’s gone through the process and they’ll likely tell you the same thing: growing a business is stressful. Fortunately, there are tools and technological innovations coming on all the time to help – but you must be willing to embrace them. This might mean shaking things up from a heavily paper-based company rooted in tradition, becoming a paperless work environment, promoting remote working and based in the cloud.
It’s sounds like quite the change, doesn’t it? It is, but it’s one that will help your business to reach the goals you’ve set out for it, and match your ambition for growth. Now, get ticking things off the list before you grow – you’ll thank us later!
Lunar CRM provide bespoke cloud-based CRM solutions to businesses in a variety of industries – but they all have one thing in common: their ambition and willingness to innovate. Find out more about our solution on our website, or get in touch to arrange a free demo.