In the world of small business, it’s important to take advantage of anything that can give you an edge – whether it be making you more productive, more accessible, or more visible to your potential customers. One of the technologies that has recently changed the world of small business is mobile technology. From the cell phone to the tablet, the evolution of mobile technology has changed the world of business forever. In our next two posts we’ll take a closer look at the advantages, possibilities, and necessary considerations of mobile technology for small businesses.
In the beginning, the first big convenience offered by mobile technology was the ability to always have your phone with you. The possibility of answering and making calls when you were out of the office drastically improved the accessibility of business owners and their employees. The next convenience was the possibility of checking your email outside the office, which increased productivity. Since then, updates and discoveries in applications, software, and integration possibilities have blown door of potential benefits wide open. With each passing day, mobile technology is changing the ways that the world does business.
Today there are many different options in the mobile technology solutions. Some of these include:
- Mobile websites
- Mobile applications
- Mobile commerce
- Mobile infrastructures
- Mobile communications
- Mobile marketing
- GPS tracking
The biggest benefit to mobile technology continues to be communication. Still, security issues are also an important addition to basic feature set. Visit Car Trackers Club website for simple and affordable GPS car tracker. Smartphones, laptops, tablets, and PDAs have given business owners unprecedented access to their employees, customers, and vendors. Not only does a cell phone mean that you can make and take calls at any given moments, but the applications on smartphones and tablets give you instant access to the internet and social media. Businesses have found that mobile technology allows them to communicate in all sorts of ways, including the ability to:
- Make presentations to customers
- Download information
- Give quotes and estimates while in the field
- Make continuous updates while traveling
Part of this communication includes the ability to get instantaneous feedback from your customers. Businesses who take advantage of this feedback have been able to speed up their research and development phases, which allows them to stay one step ahead of the competition. This includes not only product upgrades resulting from existing problems, but also new designs. As a bonus, customers who have given feedback feel as if they have been a part of the process and have had a voice in the development of the product.
In our next few articles we’ll continue the mobile technology discussion with a look at how it is affecting both marketing and commerce in the small business world.