Anxious about how the rapid changes in the world today might affect your business or department? You may want to consider some important transitions to improve your processes with key tools today and be better prepared for the future.
Big changes have been occurring at work over the last decade and are continuing to accelerate with the cloud, Covid19, and other major trends:
— from tons of paperwork in the workplace to a paperless world.
— from spending many hours traveling from your residence to your workplace to spending a few minutes of preparing to work at home.
— from having difficulty in plotting and keeping track of your work schedules to having online scheduling that reminds you of every meeting or deadline of the tasks you have and more.
Technology is changing and will continue to accelerate in the future so it’s essential to take advantage of modern technology appropriately.
What does future-proofing your business mean? Why are there so many businesses investing so much in future-proofing their businesses? Future-proofing your business means planning improvements today that will still be used in the future even when technology changes. In other words, future-proofing is securing your business to avoid stress despite the anticipated changes in the future.
Here are the 7 Ideas to Future-Proof your business with today’s business technology.
Idea 1: Future-proof your business by investing in Cybersecurity
Most businesses today have adopted digital systems, which add great benefit and also create susceptibility to cyber-threats, cyber-attacks, and other cyber risks. Research shows that 68% of business leaders said their cybersecurity risks are increasing (Accenture). Investing today in tools that are trusted against cybersecurity threats should be a top priority to protect your business data against any unauthorized access to data centers and other computerized systems.
Idea 2: Future-proof your business by going paperless, and have easy access to everything at your fingertips
Ceve Marketing quoted that an average of 4 weeks is lost each year waiting on misfiled, mislabeled, or untracked documents. Avoid lost or misplaced documents and get access to content anywhere you or your team works. Going paperless puts all of your content online, instead of having the bulk of documents in your workplace. How much easier will life be if all your content can be accessed easily at your fingertips? Plus, it’s good for the environment.
Step 3: Future-proof your business by using a digital signature to create a more efficient day-to-day work process
Nothing compares to having a time-saving, cost-effective, and more secure way of signing documents than using a digital signature. If your company hasn’t made the transition from paper & pen or courier services to digital signatures now may be the time. Use digital signatures in your sales process, with clients, in human resources, or even for internal approvals to easily keep track of key approvals and confirm document receipts or acceptances. Not only will you have an easier time keeping track of things, but you will also have less worry about securing and filing because access is controlled and files are stored online securely.
Step 4: Future-proof your business with low/no-code custom software
Running a business in today’s competitive world requires gaining an advantage and operating efficiently. To support your growing business and unique process, you may need tools that are designed exactly to the needs of your secret sauce. For this, you might want to consider low/no-code software that you can customize to the exact needs for your business to improve and increase its performance, productivity while staying secure. As a leader in the low/no-code space, Quickbase might just be the tool you need to build processes that enhance your advantage.
Step 5: Future-proof your business by tracking customer behavior to predict changes in buying patterns
Customers are the heart of every business. In 2019, the number of internet users worldwide was 4.14 billion, up from 3.92 billion in the previous year. Easier access to computers or smartphones has given people the opportunity to use the internet more frequently and with more convenience (J. Clement). This means more and more customers learn about and interact with services through digital platforms. These platforms typically provide insights on consumer behavior data, so you can measure and analyze ways that you can better engage your customers and get more revenue for your business in the long run (ProServeIT).
Step 6: Future-proof your business by keeping your entire business operation connected
Every business wants their operation to be hassle-free. According to a study by the International Data Group, 69% of businesses are already using cloud technology in one capacity or another, and 18% say they plan to implement cloud-computing solutions at some point (Quickbase). Cloud-based technology allows for the lower-cost deployment, automatic deployment of updates across the organization, and access from around the world (Quickbase). This lets business leaders focus on strategic areas of the business. Some advantages of going to the cloud are quality control, increased collaboration, automatic software updates, and many more.
Step 7: Future-proof your business by embracing the use of online scheduling
Using online scheduling today with clients or maybe even internally? If not consider these advantages:
— reduction of errors
— fast and simple scheduling
— reduction in missed appointments
Many businesses use online scheduling with clients. Consider how many other opportunities there might be to avoid time and wasted effort setting up meetings for internal teams or with contractors or vendors.
MCFTech and Quickbase can help you Future Proof your business …
Here’s a great tool to help future-proof your business technology — Quickbase. Quickbase offers the most advanced and easy to use low-code platform which can be used to create custom, data-driven applications across an entire organization, all in the cloud. In this article, MCFTech shares the features of Quickbase that help accelerate growth for your company (How Quickbase Can Help Companies to Grow).
MCFTech provides low-code application development to businesses across the globe. We help businesses grow by building, deploying, and supporting business applications quickly and efficiently. As a Quickbase solution provider, we can help you integrate Quickbase into your IT infrastructure and assist business units with the rapid development of applications on the platform.
Learn more about our complete suite of services and how they can help your business here.