In the first two instalments of our “Futureproofing Your Business” series, we discussed the role that technology can play in preparing your organisation for the future from a people and planet perspective.
In this, the last article of our three-part series, we illustrate how changes made to your current IT practices and systems can enable a more prosperous future for your business and support the triple bottom line by maximising profit.
Futureproofing your business through the best use of technology is essential to enable your organisation to deal with changes in the corporate landscape, such as the growing emphasis on environmental legislation. Adapting a progressive attitude towards your IT infrastructure also allows you to optimise potential opportunities and, therefore, profit.
So how can technology be used to help generate profit for your business?
Your current, inefficient IT system could be costing you hundreds, thousands or millions of pounds on a yearly basis in maintenance costs and in lost revenue opportunities. As customers increasingly expect fast answers to their purchasing queries, if your IT system means your employees, website or software can’t offer the answers they need as quickly as possible, they will go elsewhere.
But what many businesses do not fully realise is that, with the right changes, investing in the right technology could save your company money and boost revenue by providing speedy, accurate and relevant interaction with clients who will then be much more likely to buy your products or services. With technology now the backbone of businesses globally, investing in the right IT systems and equipment is no longer an irritating cost – it is a primary catalyst for profit growth.
Discover the Financial Opportunities in Your Technology
Many organisations are unaware of the opportunities to save and generate money through their technology, as well as how your IT infrastructure could be losing potential revenue. By unlocking the hidden value that your technology can generate, your business is able to maximise your budget and your potential profit. Your technology, past, current, and future, can be considered a financial asset to propel your business towards financial goals.
Enhanced Performance and Profit Gain
For business today, speed is of the essence. Faster means better. Faster technology means consumers and businesses alike now expect immediacy when it comes to purchasing, selling, downloading and working. Therefore, your business, and your technology must be able to perform quickly and perform well to support lead generation.
A fantastic example of this is a recent advert provided by automobile giants, We Buy Any Car. The online car-buying service recently published an advert announcing that it had cut the time it takes for a customer to receive a quote when selling a car from 60 to 30 seconds.
When looking at the time itself, 60 seconds seems like a blink of an eye in terms of selling a car! However, what We Buy Any Car understand is that time is money and that to keep its customers’ attention and generate leads, the company needs to make its process as quick and easy as possible. The harder and more time-consuming a decision is to make for a potential customer, the less likely that customer is to act.
Research shows that a potential customer online will lose interest in your business in around 8.5 seconds – even a goldfish has a longer attention span! Therefore, the longer it takes for your potential customers to execute actions, the less likely they are to continue through your sales process.
With this in mind, it is essential that your technology can allow quick and efficient actions for your customers, as well as your employees who interact with those customers, to protect profit and lead generation.
How to speed up your technology
There are plenty of options available to speed up your technology and there is a fit for every business. In most cases, speeding up your technology does not require a full IT system overhaul (although that is one option) but, rather, slight changes to boost device performance. These changes do not have to be expensive or drastic and even the smallest updates could enhance the experience of your customers and add years to the lifespan of your IT.
Component level updates
Each device within your IT system is made up of components; the quality, capacity, power, and age of these components combined determine the performance of your technology. Whether your business uses laptops, PCs, servers, or a combination of all three, the components of each device can be upgraded to boost productivity and capabilities.
Component level upgrades increase the speed and performance of your technology to create a faster, more reliable and often more powerful device. Not only does that improve customer and employee experience, but it also means potential clients can readily access the information they need to make an informed decision on a purchase as easily as possible.
Performing component level upgrades on any device should always be undertaken by a professional. Many businesses have dedicated IT Managers or teams who can perform these upgrades. If not, component level upgrade services are available to boost the performance of your technology easily and without hassle.
The result? Your IT system will both be quicker and more efficient. Depending on the device upgraded, your business should see a boost in productivity and lead generation. Upgrading your employees’ computers or PCs results in less time waiting for software to load, which means your sales teams can retain customer attention, which in turn leads to an increase in productivity as well as improved staff satisfaction. Additionally, upgrading the servers that host your website or software files will result in a faster experience for your customers, increasing lead generation and, ultimately, profit.
Boost Device Performance and Speed with NVMe Technology
NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) [link to What is NVMe blog] is the newest form of SSD technology and can speed up the storage of your device by up to ten times. In simple terms, this component can rapidly increase how quickly information is accessed within your IT system, resulting in a faster user experience.
NVMe is rising in popularity globally; it is predicted that 91 per cent of SSDs in enterprise data centres around the world will be NVMe by the end of 2023. This is due to the incredibly fast data transfer rates of this technology. NVMe can transfer up to 32Gb/s of data to provide near-instant access to saved files and information on your device or IT system. This is essential for the prevention of bottlenecks within your technology that can hamper your ability to attract and retain customers, resulting in lost opportunities and missed profits.
If your company is considering component level upgrades to boost performance and overall business capabilities, NVMe is important to discuss for the futureproofing of your technology. Find out more about NVMe and why it is the future of storage drives here.
The hidden value of technology
Improving the speed and performance of your technology is not the only profitable aspect of your IT infrastructure. When it comes to replacing or disposing of your used technology, these used devices are often perceived as having become worthless. As a result, the majority of used technology is disposed of incorrectly and ends up in our world’s landfills.
Your used technology, however, may have a rebate value and simply throwing away your company’s used devices means you could also be throwing away a lot of money. Selling your IT equipment to a reputable buyer or Using a Sell to Us or ITAD (IT Asset Disposition) service potentially allows your business to reclaim some value from your used technology. Any value recovered can be reinvested, either in your technology, or your wider business, boosting your organisational growth and futureproofing your company in terms of profit.
The bottom line: Technology and Profit
In the digital age, technology and profit go hand in hand. The faster and more powerful your IT system, the more prepared your business is for the future and the more profit you can generate. Speed and efficiency are crucial for the development of successful business, especially as the challenge of holding consumer attention increases. Improving complicated processes with speedy innovative solutions is imperative.
As this last episode in our Futureproofing Your Business series shows, profit is what allows your company to invest in the future. Finances are necessary to implement the changes needed for a prosperous business future and your technology not only supports this but is essential to the process.
Technology, and the way we purchase, maintain and dispose of it, is a core aspect of any business. Without the support of technology for your triple bottom line of people, planet and profit, your business is left vulnerable to any threats and challenges that may come. With this in mind, it is essential to adopt practices that enable your IT infrastructure to work for your organisation’s triple bottom line to become a progressive company of the future.
Photo by Robynne Hu on Unsplash
