4 WAYS TO USE IT IN YOUR BUSINESS

Information technology is an essential partner in management of your business, regardless of the kind of enterprise you operate. Whether you need computers for storage, transfer, retrieval or transmission of information, you can manage your business with greater accuracy and efficiency with the assistance of information technology and computer applications.

Here are 4 most basic ways you can use the internet for your business.

Marketing

Large and small businesses are on a level playing field on the Internet. You can have a web presence, take orders, buy merchandise, sell excess or even operate some businesses entirely online. A marketing tool that uses information technology is the Quick Response or QR Code that looks like a bar code but is square. A scan advertises your website address and includes any text you choose. You can use your business management skills to direct employees or contractors to do your Internet marketing, or you can choose to learn a new set of skills in information technology.

To create a social presence

Social media has grown far beyond the fad stage to a platform for promotion that no business can afford to ignore. Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn offer genuine opportunities to expand your presence by first giving you access to a much larger audience, and then giving you a chance to build personal relationships. There are privacy issues and corporate image concerns that need to be addressed, but with some patience, this channel can help you create evangelists who actively promote your brand. While social media is not for every organisation, with the steam it has been able to sustain, it at least deserves some consideration.

Communication

Communication by email is faster and costs less than sending a paper letter in the mail. You can transform your business to the 21st century with the use of email for communication with clients or customers. Information technology allows you to organise email file folders by client or by type of communication, such as orders or billing. You can drag and drop your email files to closed folders as your company completes projects. Your communication files become closed files, placed in storage on CD or on a hard drive with a duplicate copy or backup automated by a program or service – like the Cloud.

To give customers what they want, when they want it

The goal of your business in terms of its customer interactions is the generate loyalty. There’s no better way to do that than to offer quality products and services and to be responsive to your customers. But as new technologies have come to market to make it easier for businesses to provide customer service, they may also be increasing the number of channels through which you interact with customers and the complexity of those interactions.

You can therefore automate processes and ease up this daunting task of providing customer service virtually. This would include answering inquiries, providing customer support (like online instructions) and even just following up or checking up on past clients as a nice gesture to show that your after-sales program is present and will always be.