3 reasons you need web technology in your business
As web technology grows, so do the opportunities for businesses and individuals alike to utilise the global connection that is pumped directly into our offices and homes for professional and personal gain. Connections are made across the globe via social networking sites that could never have been made before the internet era, our smart phones are mobile offices, carrying and accessing data wherever we are in the world.
If you haven’t already moved your business online, here’s three great reasons to start thinking about it.
Cloud Storage and Productivity Apps
Let’s start with the obvious. Most of us now have a Google Drive, iCloud Drive or Dropbox in our lives and share files and folders with our peers and friends. Many of the providers have business or even enterprise versions of their cloud-based systems meaning that any number of employees can have large amounts of storage for their business data but it is truly accessible from any connected device anywhere in the world. With advanced security, these services are also better protected that a traditional server stack whirring away in the basement of your offices.
Microsoft especially takes this concept even further, with their Office 365 suite, which comprises not only storage but online office apps so that you can not only access but work on your next crucial presentation, proposal or forecast from wherever you are. Google too has expanded its impressive suite of web-based apps to include email for your business using your domain and impressive apps like google forms alongside their own versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Accounting
Let’s be honest, we would all rather stuff those receipts in the middle desk drawer and ignore them for the rest of our days, but we can’t. What we can do, however, is utilise the impressive array of internet-based accounting software to take at least some of the pain away.
As well as providing traditional book-keeping, reporting and accounting solutions online, many of the larger providers also have apps which will scan and record your receipts via your smart phone when you are on the go too, so there’s no more fishing around your weekend bag trying to find that receipt you got when you paid for lunch three months ago.
eSourcing and Auctions
Procurement is no longer about using local products from local suppliers. We live in a truly global age and in order for businesses to be competitive, they need to be accessing the global market. That’s where e-sourcing and e-auctions come in. By using the internet, you have access to suppliers all over the world, all of whom will be vying for your business. The solutions that you find online often include management software which will not only assist you in the procurement of your next supplier but also compliance and contact management too, meaning you have all of your supplier in one, super accessible place.
Scanmarket offer a solution for eSourcing and an excellent eAuction package, including a number of auction styles, bid management and apples-for-apples comparison tools.
