6 Tech trends for small business growth

It’s no secret that many of today’s small business owners are experimenting with different tools and strategies in the hopes of increasing their revenue and overall success. The development of modern business technology gives small businesses the opportunity to develop low-cost, enterprise-quality products and services.

Social media, Internet marketing, and e-commerce empower your business to reach potential customers in untapped markets, all over the world. But keeping a tap on the pulse of the latest trends in small business is crucial to maintain relevance in the ever-evolving world of commerce.

Here’s a quick look at some of the prevalent and upcoming trends, which allows your small business achieve exponential growth.

1. Business via mobile device

Studies have shown that at-least 60 percent of small businesses do consider mobile solutions as a medium to succeed. By utilizing mobile solutions, that have capabilities of customer relationship engagement and back-end business management, today’s busy small business personnel will be able to manage all key aspects of their business.

2. Marketing automation

When it comes to marketing, the budget does play a vital role. But automating few important marketing activities can yield better results with low cost and that’s where small businesses can take an advantage. Among various marketing tactics, email marketing campaigns have become imperative for business growth. Let’s take a look at some interesting statistics:

74% of consumers prefer to receive commercial communications via email (Merkle)
Email marketing has an ROI of 4,300% (Direct Marketing Association)
The email accounts are expecting to reach 4.3 billion mark by 2016 (Radicati)

One of the greatest strengths of email automation has always been the amount of time it frees up for marketers. Such tools allow users to spend less time (and money) on ’’grunt work’’ like creating and distributing emails, and more on creating quality, engaging content that goes in those emails. Marketing automation extends that benefit to your whole marketing program.

Email and marketing automation tools makes it easier to create and schedules emails, segment mailing lists, automate social media posting, track open and response rates, and even calculate conversions. For small businesses, whose marketing departments are having just one or two people, automation can empower them to achieve more without increasing budgets.

3. Big data analytics

75% of small businesses plan to increase their investment in big data analytics over the next two years, according to an IBM Business Tech Trends Study.

Big Data isn’t just for big businesses with even bigger budgets. Today, small business, too, can reap the benefits of the massive amounts of online and offline information to make wise, data-driven decisions to grow their businesses. Moreover, there are plenty of free tools that help you make sense of the data and are increasingly simple for anyone to use. Compared to big scale enterprises, small businesses have the advantage of agility, that allows them to derive data-driven insights with speed and efficiency. So It’s never too soon for you being the small business to start thinking big..

4. Boosting productivity with cloud computing

Cloud computing can mean big changes for small businesses. Those changes have been realized by many of today’s small-business owners, from technology startups in the heart of Silicon Valley to urban and small-town mom-and-pop shops.

The adoption of cloud computing will continue to accelerate, drifting down from the large corporate segment into small businesses, making operations more efficient and reducing capital spending. With help of cloud computing technologies startups and small businesses now no longer need to invest $100,000 a year to set up data centres and hire an IT administrator to take care of the hardware.

5. Ease of Access through the latest technology

Keeping up with the latest technology trends could be just what your small business needs for increased profits. Continuous innovation around cloud-based software solutions and increased competition for market share have made sophisticated technological tools available and affordable to smaller businesses. This type of technology allows even small startups to perform on the global stage in a way that has never been seen or even imagined before now.

6. Customer relationship management goes digital

Customer communication is the key to the survival of almost any business.
A comprehensive Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system enhances the customer experience by offering a full range of services. It also streamlines the internal processes related to customer care by offering a single location for all customer data for efficient handling of interactions.

You can choose a CRM specifically designed for small businesses. It’s time for small businesses to start formulating growth strategies based on technology trends to gain an unbeaten competitive advantage.