Technology continues to be a dominant force in almost all aspects of businesses, and for good reason. Newer technology allows businesses to become more efficient, flexible, profitable, etc. If companies don’t adapt to the changing times quickly, it’s becoming increasingly easy for them to get left behind. By incorporating some of these newer technologies, you can reduce business costs, become more efficient and help your company stay in the black.
4 Ways Technology Can Cut Business Costs
1. Cloud Technology
The cloud is one of the fastest-growing industries currently, allowing businesses of all sizes to remain flexible and productive in a complicated work environment. Providing access to information regardless of physical location is a great boon for any company to have. There are several main factors as to how harnessing cloud technology can help your business reduce business costs:
- There are extremely low barriers to entry when it comes to cloud computing.
- There are no initial fees or sunk costs when it comes to different equipment or assets that you need to begin. In addition, many cloud providers offer various short-term options, so you only pay for however long you need, as opposed to being “locked-in” for a long term commitment.
- In addition, cloud technology is a very low maintenance option for your needs. In many cases, almost all of the physical hardware is kept off-site, and owned by a separate company. This means that you are not responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of it, which implies there is a smaller demand for in-house IT staffing.
Using the cloud also provides a clear pathway for how your business can make more out of less, as there are many ways that the cloud can help increase productivity. By hosting your data on the cloud, this creates a great opportunity for a more connected workforce with an emphasis on collaborative work. It helps your business to remain adaptable during periods of uncertainty, and allows employees to work from different locations seamlessly.
2. Cybersecurity Technology
Cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important in the modern era, with the threats of cyber-attacks rising. Data breaches are becoming increasingly common, and more expensive. According to CSO Online,“…just under 30% of organizations are likely to suffer at least one breach over the next 24 months” and, in addition, “U.S. organizations face the highest costs with an average of $8.19 million per breach.”
One of the most notable mistakes that many companies make in regards to cybersecurity is that they act reactively as opposed to proactively. Only taking action to increase your cybersecurity after a breach means you are essentially losing double as much financial assets as you could have.
By staying one step ahead and proactively protecting yourself from data breaches, you can help decrease the business costs associated with cyber attacks. There are several different types of technology that can protect your business from cyberattacks, an effective one to explore would be some different SD-WAN options.
3. Time Tracking Software
Time tracking software is often more versatile than many business owners think, which could mean that it gets overlooked. Many offer a wide host of other useful features in addition to time tracking, such as some project management aspects, task assignments, business performance information, and more.
Without access to proper time tracking and management, it’s extremely difficult to allocate resources and time efficiently or properly. Without knowing how long it takes to do a task, or how many people need to be involved in each stage, you are working with an extreme lack of information. This means that you will often over or underestimate the time needed to complete a task, or the manpower. This can lead to a significant loss of productivity, in addition to costing your business much more money than need be.
Time tracking software, such as actiTIME, offers all of the aforementioned amenities and can bolster your productivity in day-to-day aspects as well as long term. With different benefits for different users, a wide range of positions can find something useful in this software, and decrease business costs through a more efficient company as a whole.
4. Automation
Automation is a great way to remove some simple and mundane tasks from your employees day-to-day, and instead have them working on more valuable and rewarding tasks. This not only helps you complete more business objectives, but it helps increase employee engagement as well, which is important since employee engagement is directly tied to efficiency, and engaged employees may result in a 21% increase in profitability for the company.
In addition to the increased productivity of your employees, by removing the boring and monotonous tasks from your business, you can refocus your employees on more items critical to the success of your organization. You can assign your workforce to the tasks that are better done by a person, which are typically more creative in nature. By working on more challenging activities, employees can improve their abilities and contribute more to the business than previously, which can make your business more efficient and help cut business costs.
Ready to Reduce Business Costs?
Ensuring that you keep expenses in line and reduce business costs whenever possible is key to running a sustainable business:
- Using cloud technology with low entry costs will enable your employees collaborate with each other more effectively, and allow your company remain flexible in trying times.
- Ensuring you have proper cybersecurity protection can prevent your business from becoming a victim of a cyberattack, and save you money long term.
- Having quality time tracking software in place will make sure that you are allocating your resources properly, and not overspending in unnecessary areas.
- Automating simple tasks can help keep your employees engaged, and as a result, turn them into more productive workers, which will reduce your business costs overall.
Try implementing a combination of these unique technologies to boost the quality of your company, and decrease unnecessary spending.
