You are a smart business owner. You know you have to watch where your money goes, keep up with efficiency, and make your customers happy. Fortunately, there is a ton of technology available that can help you do all of these things and much more. A small investment in the following products and services can prevent serious problems, and help you recover when troubles pop up.
The Problem: Data Loss
Data loss is a serious threat to businesses of all sizes and in all sectors. Even the likes of J.P. Morgan Chase and Microsoft are not immune. Often, data loss is accidental and can be attributed to human error. Other times, it is the direct result of a malicious phishing attack or computer virus. Unfortunately, lost information can bring your business to a screeching halt. And recovering missing files is not a task for a business owner, at least not without in-house IT assistance.
The Solution: Data Recovery
Because unscheduled downtime can result in customer dissatisfaction and lost revenue, recovering your files and getting booted back up is of paramount importance. Secure Data Recovery mentions several data loss scenarios, such as water-damage and corrupt RAID arrays. A professional data recovery firm can move quickly and retrieve your lost data, which is particularly important if your data was accessed or removed as the result of an email scam or phishing scheme. To minimize damage and get back to work, it’s crucial to act fast.
The Problem: Low Online Traffic
Back in the 90s when computers were just going mainstream, the first internet searches were done via desktop. Business Insider notes PC-to-net traffic remained pretty steady until the advent of mass-produced smartphones. Today, more than 58% of online traffic is generated from a handheld device, according to data collected from Perficient Digital. If your company’s website does not cater to these mobile users, you are potentially missing out on more than half of your customer pool.
The Solution: Mobile Web Design
If you don’t have a dedicated web developer, look for a service or freelance professional that can turn your desktop design into a user-friendly mobile application. When planning your mobile website, make sure that it is optimized to enhance the customer experience. This might include things like linking to your address so that users can launch their mobile GPS and navigate to your location with a single touch. Direct-from-site calling and social media integration are also valuable business boosters.
The Problem: Slow Response Time
As the internet becomes more ingrained into our daily routines, people are understandably becoming less patient. And considering that the majority of business transactions now take place online, you must be proactive in ensuring that your customers do not have to wait for a response when trying to access information from your website.
As QMinder explains, long wait times — whether in-person, online, or via telephone — can cause frustration, and when customers aren’t happy, they will quickly move on to the next business, the one that won’t make them sit around on hold. But, having a live agent available 24/7 is impractical and expensive.
The Solution: Chatbots
One solution is to install chatbot AI software on your website. While it is true that humans have the advantage when it comes to solving complex problems or providing empathy to unhappy clients, chatbots are considerably faster and more responsive to everyday inquiries. Some experts feel that within a year, approximately one-quarter of customer service interactions will be initially served by a chatbot.
This is certainly not a comprehensive list of technology that will enhance your business, but data recovery, mobile access, and responsive customer service solutions will put you on the right track. Consider these solutions as part of the groundwork for future growth. Once these areas are mastered, you can integrate additional technologies to help you keep up with the ever-changing digital world in which we live.
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