90% of small businesses use some communication tool. As much as 80% use some SaaS for internal management, 40% use some tool to amplify their sales. The list goes on.
Technology is moving the small firms. But most businesses are not tech-savvy enough to understand every facet of technology. As a result, most are on the wrong path.
Read on to learn about the eight common tech mistakes that most small businesses make.
1. Relying Too Heavily on the Cloud
The Global Advanced Threat Landscape 2019 Report states that over 49% of organizations put their SaaS-based business applications into the public cloud. Additionally, as much as 45% of corporations put their customer data on public cloud services.
The reason: it’s a practical solution, and it’s cheap.
However, relying on it too much could be catastrophic for your business. Data loss because of cloud errors is everyday news.
So, make a habit of storing the critical data in several places, not just one. And you might think that suing the vendor will bring all the money back, but that is far from the truth. Instead, you will be better off keeping the data safe and moving your business forward like you should have been.
2. Poor backup strategy
Preserving critical data at many places sounds like a good backup strategy in itself. However, you will be wrong to think like that.
Data breaches are on the rise now more than ever. And only think to ensure your data safety is a comprehensive data backup strategy. Start by deciding what data is critical for your business. Then, make it practice to backup the critical data every month or so.
When looking for a vendor, ensure to go with the one that has sandboxing environment. Upon that, always have multiple backups of critical data no matter what.
3. Not Giving Importance to Online Security
1 in every 10 organizations has faced some cyberattack in 2024 alone. Of which, carelessness of employees was the most significant cause in most attacks.
And given that only 1 in 3 organizations has some kind of security training for employees, it is not difficult to understand why most organizations fail.
It is understandable that human name error. But when equipped with the right tools and technologies, there will be less room for error.
So, ensure to bring in tools that could better protect the employees. VPNs are one such solution. But your business might need something else. Regardless, you should take steps to educate everyone about online security vulnerabilities, what causes them, and they can avoid them.
4. Improper Communication Tools
Inadequate communication tools can be catastrophic too; businesses need to understand that asynchronous communications are as critical as synchronous platforms. Still, most rely on old-school communication tools like Gmail, which is essential, but not for organization-wide communication.
Moreover, most do not incorporate proper business integrations to complement the communication channels. For instance, Itrezzo allows businesses to sync Public Folders to mobile phones, thus allowing shared contacts and calendars on every Outlook-enabled device. Tools like these help employees avoid manual tasks.
Still, most businesses fail to leverage the true potential of tools.
5. No Regular Software Updates Or Replacements
This better complements the previous point. It is critical to understand new updates bring in applicable functions that could automate a task and improve organizational productivity.
Still, most businesses do not have any policies to update the existing tools or bring in other services that could serve well.
Also necessary to consider, spending a hundred dollars on software that saves time, improves productivity, and automates the tasks is worth spending on. Such tools will be beneficial in the long term.
So, do not hesitate to purchase software that will improve your company’s performance.
6. Not Caring About Online Reputation
Social media platforms are becoming the top choices of all organizations, big or small, to improve brand reputation, amplify sales, etc. So regardless of the fact whether your company operates B2B or B2C, what’s important is social media presence.
As of 2020, only 79.8% of small firms have a website. Guess what? The ones with a website have more brand exposure and improved sales.
Equally important, in this omnichannel world, almost 65% of customers research a product or service online before purchasing it.
Again, you might be dealing with other businesses, not customers. Still, brand exposure will help you get recognized.
7. Not Considering Before Purchasing Office Equipments
Computers, printers, or broadband services — most small businesses do not dwell on these much. Instead, they purchase whatever the dealership says.
Well, not considering before purchasing might not backfire. But there is a good chance of wasting money on something that you shouldn’t. For instance, before considering printers, it is critical to understand which type of printers will be better for your firm: the inkjets or laser types, or both.
The same goes for other types of equipment. For instance, most companies do not consider replacing old computers with new models. So, take steps to research before purchasing the office equipment that you don’t know about.
8. Choosing the Wrong Tech Support
Understandably, you rely on a “guy” to help you with all your problems. However, most of the time, businesses mistake relying on the wrong tech support.
It could be catastrophic for your business if you bring in the wrong tech support because most might give you simple solutions for big problems like which type of software would suit your business. Their solution: a pirated one. Well, it could all easily backfire.
So, always hire professionals to help you with the tech problems or discuss anything related to organization-wide integrations.
Conclusion
Technology is good when utilized in a good way. Be it the simple pieces of equipment or a backup strategy, ensure that your organization is doing all that efficiently. Moreover, always take measures to blend your organization with the right tech tools.
All in all, do not try to bring in the changes suggested above instantly. Understand that company processes do not like sudden changes. So, take time, but work on all ends.
