In many respects, higher business productivity has been provoked by technology advancement, increased customer expectations, and obsessive globalization.
If to size up the situation more formally, business productivity largely depends on the basic showing of the entire processes. A company that knows how to convert its input (staff quality, labor, materials, technologies, capital) into the output is more likely to have higher business productivity. However, the term ‘business productivity’ we are speaking about today is far from dealing alone with inputs and outputs. Put simply, the growing productivity means a search for the ways of a smarter workflow. Nobody argues with the fact there is no universal solution that suits any and every company. But process automation and technology choice are the surefire recipes any business maker should think about.
Processes automation and technology choice
What can dramatically better the way you run business? Surely, web-based technologies. If your business intents don’t end with increasing marketing share, pursuing cost reduction and preventing service problems, the latest web-based technologies are what you need.
Probably, you’ve already shown interest in IoT, AR/VR, AI technologies implemented by such business giants as Amazon and Google. Production management tools vary a lot. They can be spreadsheets, ready-made software solutions, or custom applications. The choice is yours, though, here are several case-studies to help you with it:
Business recipe 1: Choose non-local IoT-using suppliers
IoT technology has allowed companies involved in multiple verticals – let’s take logistics as an example – perform better services. What does it mean for a business? It signifies that you are no longer limited to local suppliers and partners. The technology enables logistics companies to deliver things faster, which means you can find cheaper material supplier abroad and establish more competitive pricing for your products. Besides, the cost of such transaction processing is reduced due to the cut of paperwork (e-purchasing) and cheaper labor cost (cyber robots, IoT devices). Wherein, the quality of the provided services doesn’t suffer at all.
The way is suitable for smaller businesses with not great investment capacity.
Business recipe 2: Try off-the-shelf control software solutions
Smart office solutions and inventory control systems can help you become more profitable in two-ways direction. IoT inventory control systems allow for storing and analyzing a larger scale of data, which timely reveals new customer demands and speeds up clients’ response time. IoT office solution will help you cut on the cost of electricity, water and heating consumption, as well as provide more secure and convenient working conditions for your employees. Besides, IoT analysis system permits to identify peak and low business periods, which can help you plan a more profitable working calendar.
This way goes for mid-sized businesses with stable annual income.
Business recipe 3: Create custom software adjusted to your needs
One of the main productivity factors is whether your company takes advantage of the latest innovations and how well you keep up with the latest technological developments. Attending the latest tech fests like CES 2018, you may stay on top of the news. Besides, such trade shows are a great resource for new ideas you may implement into business. Communicating with numerous software vendors you are more likely to find a reliable developer who is to develop custom software adjusted to your company needs.
Though the solution seems costly, you have a chance to network with companies in your industry who have already applied IoT and tested it in practice. If you learn what competitors do in this regard, you’ll sufficiently narrow down the search of technology solutions for your business. Another way is to find several reliable vendors and hold a consultation with each of them. This can help you establish more precise selection criteria in search for a potential software developer.
This recipe goes for mid-sized and larger businesses with greater investment capacities.
Summing up
Technology advancement gives a possibility to grow your company and sales rates without expanding its size and incurring larger inputs. Thus, a profitable cooperation with companies in your industry and non-local suppliers can improve the production processes by expanding your market of distribution. Better supply deals and costly technology problems can be easily solved through the cooperation with competitors and usage of off-the-shelf software. With the advanced IoT custom applications, you can think over new products and services delivery, which also promotes your getting into new markets at lower costs.
Harriet Tewkesbury is an independent researcher, an entrepreneur, and a business strategist. She supports HQSoftware, a custom software development company, on their way to provide IoT, AR, and VR services.
