Technologies Your Business Really Can’t Afford Not To Embrace

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article
Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Historians will look back on this time as an era of epochal change. They will see this as a time of technological revolution where science fiction met with science fact. A lot of the technologies themselves have been around, in some form or another for decades but through generations of refinement and repurposing, we are now witnesses to the emergence of technologies that will change the world.

It is through their strategic use that you can change the face of your business.

To say that these are exciting times is an understatement, yet it’s surprising how slow some businesses are in embracing technology. Sure, they use it to facilitate their day-to-day function but when it comes to thinking outside of the box and bringing their business right to the bleeding edge of the technological revolution they can find themselves faltering. Of course, we mustn’t blame them. It’s in the nature of entrepreneurs, especially those who are fairly new to the business world to keep a close eye on overheads and as important as it may be, staying ahead of the technological curve has never been cheap. After all, investing in new technologies is one thing, but investment in technology also requires investment in training so that your staff have the skills and expertise to implement it effectively.

Whatever the nature of your business, there are certain technologies that are slowly and quietly but consistently revolutionizing the ways in which businesses operate and the tech savvy business can either get in on the ground floor or face the combined impediments of increased running costs, lower output and reduced productivity. The pertinence of each to your business’ specific needs may vary but across all industries these are the ones to watch…

3D printing

From the automotive industry to construction and even medicine, it seems like there isn’t a single industry that 3D printing is failing to revolutionize. The ability to print on a huge or a tiny scale using precision engineered hybrid stepper motors is an obvious boon to a range of industries and although the technology is still fairly nascent, it seems to find a new technology every day. 3D printing technology represents a second industrial revolution. Theoretically, 3D printers may one day be as common as household ink printers facilitating the purchase of a huge range of products online that can be 3D printed at home virtually instantly.

Like all technologies, however, 3D printing has a dark side, with criminal applications including the 3D printing of illegal firearms is already an unfortunate reality.

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article
Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Lasers

If your business is involved in manufacture, and reliant upon precision cutting, you probably already use lasers in some capacity. The C02 laser cutter already has an enormous range of applications across a wide range of industries. Jewelers use them for engraving personalized pieces, the construction industry uses them for the cutting of and treatment of wood and metal and a range of surgeries are carried out using these lasers.

Its cousin the fiber laser, on the other hand is used increasingly in the 3d printing of tiny and complex machine parts for which precision is paramount. Recently, however, these laser technologies have been supplanted by direct diode lasers which have already been incorporated into a variety of industries. The advantage of these lasers over their counterparts is that they represent a more energy efficient alternative that is every bit as versatile and currently used in a range of applications such as industrial welding. As direct diode lasers are far more energy efficient they can allow your business to make huge savings in running costs without compromising on versatility.

WebAssembly a revolution and an evolution

The uninitiated could be forgiven for assuming that WebAssembly just another programming language. It is, in fact, more than that. It’s a new standard binary format for web design. If you need to outsource a company to design browser-based software for your business, it pays to use WebAssembly. Compiling applications in WebAssembly is advantageous as it enables them to run as fast as native applications, meaning that browser-based applications run seamlessly and quicker than ever. The potential applications are limitless but the most obvious candidates include seamless online gaming as well as incorporating browser based augmented and virtual reality applications, and of course a renaissance in more complex and feature rich web applications.

Apps

Soon (very soon) we’ll reach the point where having an app for your business will be as necessary and ubiquitous as having a website. In an age where 30% of all e-commerce purchases in the US are made through mobile apps, it’s not hard to see why. Whatever the nature of your business you would benefit more than you may think from an app.

Retailers especially find that they can use apps not just to facilitate transactions but to promote brand awareness and incentivize customer loyalty. Uber remain a historically great example of how to expand your reach by incentivizing customers to refer their friends, family and colleagues to your service by offering both new and existing customers discounts. That’s a win for the business and both customers.

Merely having a presence on the app store can be helpful in bringing new potential leads to your business, although with over 1,600 apps published daily, savvy businesses need to take steps to ensure that their app stands out. Here you will find some tips on helping your app to get featured thereby bringing millions of potential leads into contact with your business.

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article
Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Virtual and augmented reality

If you thought that VR died with risible sci fi films like Lawnmower Man in the ’90s and that augmented reality extended to chasing up and down the highstreet searching for Pokemon, think again. Few could have preempted in the technophobic ’80s and ’90s that VR would go on to have a huge range of business and consumer applications. Gaming is a no-brainer, obviously, with Oculus Rift and Playstation VR no longer high-end speculations, but a mainstream entry into the consumer electronics landscape.

Already, a range of retailers are using augmented reality to create a novel and immersive consumer experience. Vehicle manufacturers, for example, are increasingly making use of virtual showrooms. VR and AR also have implications for a range of businesses as a training aide with all manner of on the job training and orientation potentially taking place in a risk free virtual environment.

Artificial intelligence and chatbots

There was a time when we thought that Artificial Intelligence would take over the world… and it may yet, but in less of a Terminator-y way and more in a way that benefits a wide range of contemporary businesses. Of course a lot of retailers and entertainment streaming services from Netflix to iTunes to Amazon already use a rudimentary AI to catalogue user interactions. This helps them to gauge their preferences and make recommendations accordingly but it’s really in many ways just the tip of the iceberg. Use of AI algorithms on a range of customer facing applications can potentially play a huge part in reducing staffing overheads for small businesses.

Drones

Drone technology is nothing new. In fact it has had military applications dating back to the Vietnam war, but it’s only in recent years that drone technology has been adopted in a range of civilian applications from war correspondence to ordnance mapping. If your business deals in any way with direct-to-consumer logistics then you may find yourself really embracing drone technology in the near future. UPS, for example began staging mock deliveries of emergency medical care in areas typically considered hard to reach last year.

With so many technological changes on the horizon, it’s up to you to decide which advances can help you to revolutionize your business.

The Best Way to Improve Your Business Assignment

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Assignment writing isn’t always the easiest of tasks for everyone. Sometimes writing our assignments can be difficult, or the words just won’t flow correctly but luckily there is plenty of help and advice out there to help get those good grades on your work. We’ve decided to take a look into some of the best ways to improve your assignments, so without further ado, here is our list.

Additional Reading

Improving the quality of your assignment can ultimately come down to extra reading. It’s likely that you’ve been given a reading list, but if you truly want your assignment to stand out, bringing in information from outside of the set reading will not only help you form a more strategic and believable argument, but it will show that you’ve done the extra work. Use the library in every way you can. Take out books, DVDs, journals and more, and use the quiet study area to truly concentrate on what the source is telling you.

Critical Thinking

Thinking critically about your assignment will be what takes you up those extra grades. Proving that you’re not just regurgitating information onto the page and are actually thinking it through will ultimately help you write a better assignment and argument. Understand the information to begin, apply it in some sense, and from there, analyse and conclude. Go that step further with your assignment. Even if you don’t need to include it in the final assignment, that critical thinking will help the knowledge settle in your mind as a whole.

Appropriate Language

As with any assignment, you need to be careful and precise about the language that you use. Avoid using personal pronouns as much as possible, and the right tense for your essay is another vital choice to make. Plain English and appropriate jargon and vocabulary for your assignment can take you from a basic assignment, to a business-specific, intelligent sounding assignment.

Read with Understanding

Reading is one of the best and most prominent ways to get information but to truly get information from reading, you have to read with understanding. By this, we mean reading and understanding what you’re reading. It can be tempting to skim over words and make notes that you don’t truly understand, but making the effort to truly ‘get’ what you’re reading can be the difference between grades, and a good and bad assignment. Make notes while you read, but don’t copy them word for word. Rewrite the information in your own words rather than just highlighting sections of text, and make summaries of each paragraph that you read.

Outline!

Planning and outlining your assignment before you start writing it will help you form a better argument within your assignment. After gathering all of your materials you’ll need to think about how you’re going to complete the task and how it will be written. Outline your work by identifying any key facts or words that need to be in the text, adopt a structure if it’s relevant to the assignment, and in the case that you form an outline, expand on this even more. Write down what you’ll include in each paragraph or what isn’t relevant. Analyse your arguments before you write for a more precise piece of writing before you even begin.

Don’t Underestimate The Power Of Old School Marketing

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Any good business has to keep up with technology to survive. You won’t get anywhere these days without a good website and social media presence but they aren’t the be all and end all. Too many companies are directing all of their resources toward newer, more technologically focused marketing techniques and neglecting all the old school ones. While you do need to be up to date, some of the tried and tested marketing strategies are still just as effective as they always were. They’re also usually a lot cheaper so it makes sense to use them. If you think that these marketing techniques are obsolete, think again.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article
Photo by Tomás Del Coro from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA (Sign Spinning 2017) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Trade Shows

Getting out there and meeting potential customers face to face is always a bonus. It gives them the chance to get a sense of who you are as a business and people are more likely to put their trust in somebody that they’ve met personally. A trade show is a great way to get thousands of potential customers in one place and show off your products. There’s going to be a hell of a lot of competition out there so you need to make sure that you’ve got great trade show displays that will catch people’s attention. There’s no way that people can visit every stall that’s there so you’ve got to make yours stand out. It’s also worth applying early so you can get the best position possible. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the best place to set up camp is right next to the entrance, people like to do a round before stopping anywhere so right at the entrance is actually one of the worst places. You’ll get way more foot traffic on the end of a row or in the corner somewhere.

Promotional Gifts

Everybody loves something for free so a good promotional gift goes a long way. It gives your company value and it’s a brilliant way to give people a taster of your products. It’s also a good way of encouraging people to buy other products in order to get the promotional gift. If you don’t believe me, just think about the toys that you get in a McDonald’s happy meal or in boxes of cereal. Kids are constantly hassling their parents to buy that stuff just to get the gift. It doesn’t have to be anything expensive and if you’re getting them in bulk, it’ll be even cheaper.

Sign Spinning

When people walk past signs and billboards in the street the conversion rate is pretty small. Half the time they’ll just get ignored. Sign spinning is a pretty cheesy way of advertising but studies have shown that it does actually work. The spectacle draws people in and then they’ll read the information on the sign as they watch. It doesn’t work everywhere but if you pick a busy promenade that gets a lot of foot traffic then you’re likely to see some good returns on it with very little investment.

Always keep up to date with technology but don’t underestimate the power of old school marketing techniques.

The Reasons Why Video Marketing is So Powerful

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales ArticleMany businesses don’t consider the power of video marketing because of the huge costs involved when it comes to video production. However, video marketing has been proven to be so powerful these days that even the smaller businesses that don’t have video production in their budgets are now jumping on the bandwagon. Businesses in all industries are now faced with high competition regardless of the niche, so it’s important for any business to compete with even better marketing strategies to have a chance of surviving – and that’s where video marketing comes into play. If you’re considering video production as your next marketing ploy, look at some of the below reasons why video marketing is so powerful.

Videos Boost Conversions

It has been proven that videos help boost conversions and sales. The figure differs between different industries, but there are reports that suggest a simple landing page video production has boosted conversions by a massive 80% – something that just can’t be ignored in the world of online marketing.

Excellent ROI Prospects

Many businesses overlook video production for their marketing ploys simply because they think it’s too expensive. No one can deny that the cost is often eye-watering, but given the fact a ROI is mostly guaranteed, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be considered. Yes, video production could cost thousands or even more, but the returns on offer are limitless.

Viral Boosting Opportunities

All it takes is one video to get shared once for it to get shared hundreds of thousands of times. Granted, it takes a cracking idea to get onto that sort of level, but there’s no reason to suggest that it won’t happen for your business if you do it well.

Videos Build Trust

If your customers don’t trust your brand, you’re not going to have a brand that lasts. Therefore, it’s paramount you try and build trust from the get-go so your potential customers aren’t going to go elsewhere. Videos help businesses add a touch of human appeal to their brand, and that’s extremely important when building relationships.

Search Engines Crave Low Bounce Rates

If your website has a high bounce rate, search engines are going to penalize your pages because they think there’s obviously a reason why your visitors are leaving your pages quickly. By taking advantage of video marketing, it means your visitors are instantly attracted to the video and they’re going to stay on the site longer. This will, in turn, provide you with a lower bounce rate and you will be well rewarded with better SERPs in the long run. Contact a company like ClickIntelligence.com if you want to build links to help towards your SEO efforts.

Video marketing is excellent for those that can afford to go down that route. An 80% rise in conversions, better bounce rates, higher SERPs, and a helping hand to build trusting relationships are just some of the reasons why video marketing/production is one of the most powerful online tools there is.

Why Your Business Shouldn’t Outsource Overseas

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Most business owners understand the financial benefits of outsourcing their processes overseas these days. They are much the same as the monetary advantages entrepreneurs encounter when buying from suppliers based in other countries. Still, there are some excellent reasons why you should avoid following that strategy below. Read them carefully!

Outsourcing overseas takes money out of our economy

After the recent US election, the new President committed to bringing as much money back to America as possible. He is fighting a losing battle if entrepreneurs still choose to send their work abroad. Do everyone a favor and make sure you only trade within your home nation.

Outsourcing overseas takes jobs away from your friends

There is an unemployment crisis in most western countries at the moment, and it’s the fault of companies that outsource work overseas. By bringing those jobs home, you could ensure all your friends and family members never have to struggle.

Outsourcing overseas presents many quality control issues

There is no getting away from the fact that it’s often impossible to keep a close eye on quality control when the people performing essential tasks don’t live in the same country. Bear that in mind if you want to build a good reputation for supplying solutions of the highest of standards.

Now you know some of the reasons outsourcing overseas is a bad idea, you can start to alter your strategy and approach. Take a look at the infographic under this post if you still have some confusion.


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