For small business owners, it can be incredibly difficult to make the right and most appropriate choice of technology and communication solutions for their business.
But technology is now the cornerstone of most businesses and it is vital that it works correctly. Small businesses need to ensure they make the right choice when it comes to IT and communications, otherwise they will struggle to achieve their business objectives of growing the company, making profits and increasing productivity.
The majority of small business owners are businesspeople and not technology experts. They simply do not have the expertise, interest or time themselves or in-house to make educated decisions about their IT and communications needs. In addition, the potential cost of their IT can have a significant impact on the bottom line, so they need to feel confident and comfortable that it is right.
However, small firms know what they need their technology to do in order to meet their objectives and therefore need to work with experts to help them come up with the right solution. So how do they go about finding the most suitable service provider?
How best to choose?
There are thousands of IT and communication service
providers out there that claim to be offering the same services which can be
very confusing. Many of these companies use technology jargon that does not
help companies understand what they do. Small business owners want to know what
the business benefits are before making decisions and implementing any
technology. In particular, they want to know how the technology will improve
customer service, decrease costs and ultimately support the growth of their
business.
However, because of the perceived financial cost, the need to meet immediate challenges and the lack of understanding, many companies make their buying decisions based purely on price. This is one of the biggest mistakes that small business owners can make. Because of this, many companies find that they are being provided with an unsatisfactory service offering, inadequate products, disappointing customer care and substandard solutions. Most importantly, decisions based on price are generally not optimal for the efficient running and future growth of the business.
Finding the right
provider
Small business owners need to find an IT partner that will
listen and understand their business needs, as the products or services
recommended need to be tailored to fit in with what the business needs. Once
these have been identified, the company then needs to look at exactly what
services and technology it will need for it to continue to be successful.
It is at this point that they need to work closely with their IT and communication service providers. It is often the case that small companies do not know what services and technology they need and the right provider will be able to help tease out of them the right technology and solutions to support their business objectives.
Small businesses will need to find a provider that will work alongside them in order to find the most appropriate solution. The best way to find an expert is to research carefully and contact several suppliers to discuss IT needs. The one that understands their business and is able to explain in a language that the company understands is the one that they should work with.
In addition, small business owners and the provider will need to work out what they want from their technology in the future. If the plan is to have several sites, the technology needs to be able to meet this demand and have the capacity to scale up and implement services for more users or sites, as well as provide IT support. No company wants to have to invest a huge amount of money again in a year or two because the technology they initially used will not cope with more than one site.
Since technology is so significant to the success of a business, company owners need to ensure that any company they work with and the implementation of the solution they choose does not disrupt daily business practices. No one wants the server to go down for four days or the phone to be cut off. If the supplier understands your business fully, then the services should support the business needs.
Small business owners need to work hand-in-hand with these experts to come up with a tailormade solution that fits the objectives and make sure all parts of the business are taken into consideration. Company strategy, objectives, size, location, target audience, current technology and communication systems need to be taken into account when assessing the most appropriate technology to use. It is key that the technology and communication systems are aligned with the business objectives and tailored to fit the needs of the business.
Falk Bleyl is head of business development at communication service provider Solution1. For more information visit www.solution1.co.uk
