What the right tools can do for your trade…and how to leverage them

Every business, at its most basic, is about growth. 

Growth—survival, in fact—is about relevance. 

Relevance is about knowing your customer—what they want and need, where they get it, how they like to interact—and staying agile because change is the only constant. 

Many enterprise leaders face a fundamental conundrum: they’re so involved in running business-as-usual and pursuing the company’s goals they may miss the very trends and opportunities that would spur the next level of growth. 

In our fast-paced, ever-evolving, digitally driven economy, what worked yesterday is unlikely to work today—or, for that matter, ever again.

This is where technology can become a key driver of growth for your business, keeping you nimble, flexible, efficient, connected, compliant, visible, relevant, profitable—and growing.

8 ways the right technology can help your enterprise unlock growth potential: 

Providing Actionable Data

Today, data can be generated, collected, and analyzed at a far greater speed and volume than ever before—it comes from machines, devices, transactions, and social channels. But the power of all this information lies in an organization’s ability to interpret, analyze, adapt to, and act on the story it tells. Data analytics tools can drive an organization’s growth, competitiveness, and profitability by helping you:

• Understand your customers’ wants, needs, habits, buying behavior, preferred ways of interacting, etc.
• Predict key market trends and identify opportunities and competitors
• Market new products to your target audience
• Monitor and polish your brand’s online presence
• Optimize your company’s day-to-day operations
• Improve inefficiencies in workflow, supply chain, etc.
• Identify errors and potential security threats
• Make better decisions faster 
• Allocate and invest valuable resources (capital, time, staff, etc.) for maximum efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and growth

Increasing Efficiency 
The right tech tools for your unique business can streamline workflows, identify and eliminate roadblocks or bottlenecks, and reduce delays; automation cuts back on dull manual tasks that slow you down. Technology can provide up-to-the-minute data access and sharing organization-wide. Software can help you manage projects and inventory. Custom KPI dashboards allow you to see at a glance how your company is performing vis-a-vis your goals.

Improving Flexibility 
The ever-evolving, digital-first business environment, which centers the customer and creates a culture around them, demands that businesses be constantly, proactively on the lookout for ways to improve user experience. Relevance means being ready to pivot at any moment to adjust to clients’ needs, desires, and habits, as well as industry shifts, small or seismic. Access to solid data and the right tech tools make this possible. Cloud-based software, for example, offers exceptional flexibility, agility, and scalability, allowing you to adapt without huge infrastructure changes.  

Decreasing costs 
By increasing the speed and efficiency of your internal operations, digital transformation saves your organization money. Automation allows employees to spend less time on laborious, repetitive tasks; it reduces costly human errors and alerts you to problems before they become big and expensive to correct. Digital workflows reduce or eliminate paper-heavy manual processes, saving on supply costs. Cloud-based computing reduces hardware expenses, with on-demand digital delivery and pay-as-you-go for only what you use.

Improving Security & Ensuring Compliance
It’s essential to keep your data secure, protect your customers’ privacy, and operate in accordance with established regulations and guidelines (which are also constantly evolving and expanding). Corporate (internal) and regulatory (governmental) compliance each have their own framework of rules, controls, practices, and processes that provide security, protect digital assets, and keep companies in adherence. Technology can keep your data safe with multiple layers of safeguards, and help your company stay fully abreast of current requirements. For example: regulation-specific apps and software can provide automated reporting and real-time red-flag alerts; blockchain offers end-to-end encryption and a permanent, unalterable record that prevents tampering and unauthorized activity.  

Boosting Employee Satisfaction
Although you will likely need to provide training and prepare your team for a culture change, automation ultimately lifts the burden of boring, time-consuming, menial tasks and engages employees with more meaningful, productive work, increasing satisfaction and bolstering workplace morale. Further, there’s been a tectonic shift in the work landscape over the past few years—technology can provide the accessibility and connectivity needed to meet increasing demand for flexibility in where, when, and how your employees work.

Expanding Your Reach
Building a digital presence for your brand, using social media and content marketing on the best platforms for your industry, scheduling posts, ecommerce, omnichannel—technology can help you engage more customers and grow your business.

Knowing and Serving Your Customer 
Relevance and growth depend on gaining and retaining customers, making them happy, earning their loyalty. Data can help you know them: who they are, where they shop, how they like to interact, what they search for and eventually buy, and why. Sleeker, faster tools and more up-to-date information can increase engagement and improve experience at every touchpoint. Data security builds trust. Automation in customer service processes can help representatives be more responsive. 

It’s vital to harness technology to grow your business, yet a common pitfall is leaping at a hot new trend or tool without first assessing it in the context of your overarching needs and objectives. Is this the right tool for our organization? Does it integrate well with our existing systems? Don’t miss the crucial preliminary step: holistic analysis of your processes and technology vis-a-vis your goals. You can feel confident that this investment is a valuable strategic resource not just an IT operational expense. 

At Lukasa, we’re experts at the intersection of business (process analysis and improvement; growth strategy) and technology (identifying/building/implementing the best digital tools for your unique needs). We take a partnership approach to every project, working side-by-side with your team to gain a comprehensive understanding of the way you work—your goals, needs, and pain points—then helping you leverage the most effective technology for the growth of your unique enterprise.

About Lukasa - lukasa.com
Lukasa empowers small-to-medium-sized businesses by designing and implementing custom business and technology solutions that drive efficiency, productivity, and innovation, enabling them to stay ahead in today’s rapidly-changing competitive landscape.