Tech Essentials to Empower A Growing Business

Can you imagine a business today that does not depend on technology for its day-to-day operations? Further, could you even think of expanding your footprint or even surviving in future without devising a strategy that does not even have IT at its core? The answer is a resounding no.

IT as a business tool has been safely around for atleast the last 15 years. What started with basic email facility and the small accounting and billing packages has now expanded to include end-to-end supply chain management, customer relationship management, business process management, manufacturing process management or ERP, sales management, and so on.

The need to go digital

While the existing set of tools or software are good enough for the functionality they provide and in providing the ease of doing business, the way ahead entails complete digital transformation of a business in line with the government’s plans to digitise economy and regulatory compliance, something that’s going to gain impetus with the likely implementation of GST next financial year.

The big role of Big Data and Analytics

So, what should a small to mid-size business look up to going forward? A lot is being discussed about analytics and big data and how it is going to be used to get relevant business insights about customer choice and behaviour. But how could a small business gain through such an implementation or rather how should it proceed towards getting a solution deployed for its business? The answer lies in not getting an off-the-shelf solution but rather in understanding the business needs diligently and getting a solution customised. Most vendors today offer analytics and big data solutions that are tailor-made to suit business requirements and fit into their IT budgets.

Why hybrid clouds interest businesses more

Likewise cloud computing has received a major boost in the recent years with lots of enterprises, especially SMEs, getting over the security phobia initially associated with such an approach and adopting cloud, read hybrid clouds, for a larger number of IT solutions. Most vendors offer a ready mix of hybrid cloud solutions based on business needs and security, and regulatory compliance requirements. The license based model ensures you have the best of technology at affordable rates and you do not miss out on competitive edge due to lack of technology.

The ubiquity of business mobility

Mobility has always been a key focus area in technology for enterprises what with internet and smartphones becoming ubiquitous. Mobile apps are a key component of any business strategy devised today, be it related to fulfilling business processes or reaching out to customers. In fact, for tech-enabled start-ups Mobility constitutes the fulcrum of their entire business concept and strategy. So how do you decide about the right mobility solution for your business? You need to keep your key requirements in mind while comparing offerings from different vendors.

How about modernising a data center

Is your data center ready for the next generation of IT? Can you absorb the pressure on legacy resources with data coming in from different sources and requiring indepth analysis, in line with changing customer needs? The answer is probably ‘no’ and this is why a great deal of awareness is still required understand the need to have a ‘retrofit’ done to the existing data center to absorb more data and software that comes along with new applications and to ensure you do not completely discard your legacy infrastructure.