Information technology is taking over. Well, not in a threatening way like that sentence sounded, but still, it is becoming an inevitable part of today's world. Back when the Internet was rising in popularity, and a majority of cellphones were the flip ones, businesses didn’t have to rely heavily on technology to keep their success alive. Think about it- twenty years ago was the start of a variety of revolutionary changes in everything technology related. Google was born in 1998, and during that time, only 41% of adults used the Internet.
The majority of social media brands that we use today are still relatively new. Facebook? 2004. Twitter? 2006. Instagram? 2010. Snapchat? 2011. You probably use one, if not all of these apps at least once a day, and they weren’t even a thought until less than two decades ago. The point here is- technology takes over our lives a lot faster than we could ever think. As soon as people see the benefit in adopting something to their everyday life, they will.
Being able to incorporate IT into everyday life means that globalization is much easier to attain. We can share important information with the click of a button, and because of this, linguistic and geographic boundaries become less important. Countries around the world are becoming more familiar with each other's culture and ideas, and there is more presence of the global economy. Thanks to technology, our world is more connected than ever before.
Of course, along with all positives come negatives, and there are a few drawbacks to the ever-advancing technology. Besides being a distraction, in terms of business, one of the biggest challenges for people is that it is taking over jobs. Since technology can do so much, it makes more sense profit-wise to cut some positions that may be redundant. This also means a lot more training for current employees, since things are always advancing and changing. Regardless of the few cons of tech, the abundance of positives makes it one of the most wonderful advancements of this century. Now let’s get into some of the benefits of technology in the business world.
You’ve got Mail!!
First and foremost, within the internal workings of businesses, IT is used to make sure that departments run smoothly. Email is probably one of the inventions that professionals use the most. It was around a good time before the Internet and has been given its change to evolve into what we know it as now. While the beginnings of the email were humble and contained to the academic world, it has become the main form of communication within businesses. In a large company, one of the fastest and easier ways to link departments is through email.
You're Connected
If you are a business that utilizes IT as part of their infrastructure, it makes it much easier to connect with both customers, employees, and with others in the industry. This means more clients for your business, along with more possibilities. It makes it easier for branches of a business to get in touch with those from other branches, or for an employer to reach an employee. Most importantly, it makes it possible to quickly and easily reach clients. And this means more profit!
Growth of Jobs in the Field
IT is becoming more integrated into how companies run, so the need for people who can take on jobs as programmers, developers, and web designers is growing. Not only are these jobs necessary, but they are among some of the most high-paying and in demand. An article from The Street stated that some of the most-high paying entry level jobs are computer programmers, database engineers, and graphic designers, to name a few.
Computer programmers and database engineers are exceedingly important, as they are the ones who create software programs that computers can understand. There is a lot of coding, numbers, and complex equations that go into these jobs, which is why they are such a huge part of advancing technology.
Software and Hardware Packages
With new and improved hardware, it is possible to save more information, research and store data quicker, and create better business designs. Research and analysis abilities are more accessible with this updated technology. Some of the software options that are available to businesses are systems that do accounting, manage information, and track point of sales. These systems are crucial to a company's success and are major building blocks in establishing functionality.
Accounting systems will analyze and record financial documents, which cuts down a lot of the excess work of filing. This system will manage income, expenses, funding, and other financial activities made by a business.
Another system is inventory management, which keeps track of how much stock is made in relation to customer demands. This connects to point-of-sale and keeps track of the inventory that is sold and how much is sold to project plans for your stock.
When you have a computer system that can do extensive and tedious work for you, such as tracking sales or keeping track of your payroll, it makes it a lot easier to focus on other aspects of your business.
One of the most important software inventions to manifest has been CRM software. This has been revolutionary to businesses and a great way to strengthen the relationship your business has with its customers. CRM, which stands for Customer Relationship Management, is a process that uses data analytics to remember previous information about your customers so that they feel valued. This tool exhibits features like sending out birthday emails and remembering previous orders. Though seemingly simple, I always do feel a little more fondness for a business who rewards me with something for my birthday, like when Panera gives you a free birthday pastry. A cookie? Don’t mind if I do.
Accessible and Cost-Effective
Technology is making products leagues more accessible to consumers. For example, if you wanted to buy a new sweater in the middle of the night, you could hop on Google, pick an option, and purchase with the click of a few buttons. This also makes companies products available to people all over the world. Someone in the US can buy something from a company in Japan, and it will be shipped to them in a few weeks. Not only does this make business more accessible, but it also means that businesses are able to earn more money.
This means that technology is not compartmentalized, but an idea that flows through every team in a business. The IOT (Internet of Things) has made all we do connect somehow to the Internet, and because of this, technology is at the forefront of businesses. Technology gives people a major upper hand in finding a strategy that will dazzle customers and could gain you millions of dollars.
Productivity
The introduction of IT into the business world drives innovation and leads to success. While technology and the introduction of computer systems have made their way into most businesses, even companies that are primarily hands-on benefit from the innovation of these tools. According to a study by Business2Community, some of the reasons that IT helps advance business growth so quickly is because it allows a business to make better decisions for their overall success.
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If you are incorporating the newest technology into your department, it means a lot of responsibility among departments shift. Specifically, with IT teams, the roles are changing from being the people you call when your computer isn’t working to the people that are the face of the company. The IT team has now become one of the main drivers of innovation because of all it has brought to the table. Businesses have capitalized off of what technology can do.
There is a wide range of fields IT covers, one of the most utilized being cloud computing. Cloud computing is computing resources that are used on-demand and on a pay-for-use basis. Some of the services cloud computing covers are servers, software, and databases. What is useful about these services is that you save money as a business by only paying when you need to with the pay-per-use system.
The cloud has been useful in saving storage space. When you eliminate physical hardware that stores information, it becomes a lot less confusing to manage.
Another reason the cloud is becoming big is because it guarantees security. Security will 100% make or break your business. If you can't guarantee that your customers’ information is secure, why should they trust you at all? Especially with the Internet. While things become infinitely easier being online, it also means more of a chance to get hacked or have your identity stolen.
Outsourcing
One option that a wide range of companies look into is finding managed it services or an IT services support company. Outsourcing has been favorable because of the weight it shifts off your business. What this means is that your business can hire another company to take on internal work regarding your business needs. Managed services are a large portion of this movement and take on the role of management when it becomes too much for your employees to do themselves. The managed service provider industry has steadily been growing in the modern day and will continue to grow because of its benefits.
Now you may be wondering, what is a managed IT service? A managed service provider is an outsourced company that will take on your IT needs and monitors your infrastructure to ensure that everything is running smoothly. This could mean covering your network needs, ensuring your security is in place, or being a source to ask any advance technological questions. Managed services are also beneficial to companies because of their knowledge of technological advancements in the field, and their ability to incorporate them into your business.
Managed service providers are useful for a variety of businesses that are looking to pass on the responsibility of their growing demands. IT for small businesses is useful as well, as it can save time and money, and is a way to connect with technological specialists in advancing your productivity. Even with an IT team, companies can look into working with technology support services to boost their collaboration. This study by CompTIA found that among small and medium-sized businesses, those who are more satisfied with their IT are those who utilize technology partners.
Some of the main reasons businesses choose to invest in IT support are because it means uninterrupted functionality, reduces downtime, catches issues that may go unnoticed, and saves money in the long run. If you're curious about what to look for in a managed it service provider, check out this article.
Security
Technology means that everyone is connected. And while that’s great, a less favorable situation arises- cyber-attacks. One essential task to tackle is making sure that security is locked in place regarding your business. Since we’re in a time that is so digital and where everything is accessible through a computer, it means our information is more vulnerable than before. It’s almost impossible to stay away from being online since that’s where the hub for business and social media.
Considering this, it is vital that businesses take steps towards making sure they have everything in line. Some things businesses can do to make sure their security is the best it can be is to have antivirus software, to secure their networks, and to put some security practices in place. Some common cyber threats that can affect your business are attacks on your passwords, viruses, and email phishing. With a good IT team, you can work on these points, yet it may be more beneficial look to a managed service provider to help them with these needs.
The Future of the IT Market?
The IT market has been steadily growing and is going to continue to grow. According to a study by Statista, the spending forecast for IT services has been gradually rising since 2015 and will go from 1.016 billion in 2019 to 1.065 billion in 2020.
When you break the IT market down in terms of spending, 53% is spent on hardware, software, and services. Telecom services, which is the electronic exchange of information through voice, data, and video, are 30% of the spending. 17% is for emerging technologies that are not traditional or are a part of multiple categories.
The cloud computing industry will also see a growth, as another study done by Statista found that 80% of enterprises are running apps and experimenting with Amazon Web Services as a cloud platform. Not only that- the SaaS market generates at least $20 billion in revenues for software vendors.
As our fascination with and study of technology continues, advancements in the industry will only continue to grow. According to an article by Forbes, we can be expecting information to arise about things like user mapping and machine learning. The world revolves around technology, and technology revolves around us.
