September 9, 2021
How Technology Can Grow Your Business in 2021
After a roller coaster ride over the past year and more, businesses are looking to the future. Their eyes aren’t just on recovery. Eager to make up for lost time, businesses are pursuing growth.
Technology affords countless options focused on growth. Here are two ways to utilize new technologies to grow your business in the second half of 2021 and into the years to come.
Automate Some of Your Communication.
Chatbots and Website Visitor Data Collection—are you using either or both?
In the past, chatbots were useless; they rarely worked as expected. But those days are over. Thanks to major strides in AI technology, chatbots are automation kings.
You can use chatbots as the first “person” someone sees when they visit your website. A chatbot can ask questions and mimic a real person. But here’s where the automation really shines: if a potential customer has a specific request or question, the chatbot can instantly direct them to the person within your company who can help them. This can save a lot of time.
How’s the data collection on your website? Do you have formfills where visitors can choose to share with you their name and email address? You can lock free content (such as special reports, books, videos, demos, etc) behind a “data wall. This enables you to follow up with them personally after they’ve received the free content they wanted.
Invest in IT Security.
Over the last year, as we all adapted to more remote work, businesses struggled to balance efficiency and security. They ended up focusing on one or the other. Data security often got left in the dust.
We’re headed into the final months of 2021, but many businesses still lag behind in security. Not investing in an overall cybersecurity strategy can prevent business growth. Your data is at risk from both internal (hardware failure, data loss, etc.) and external (data breaches, cybercriminals, etc.) threats. There are other concerns too—here are just three to consider:
Computer connections: How are your remote employees connecting to your network? Are you SURE that method maximizes the security of your data?
Employee training: Careless or malicious employee actions are tied to over 90% of all data breaches. How well trained is your staff?
Scalability: Is your network configured now to maximize security throughout upcoming growth?
These questions are a starting point. If you aren’t happy with the answers, it’s time to fill the gaps and give your business the advantage it needs for the future.
Partner with a Specialist, and Keep Moving!
If you need to boost your data security, if you want to jump into the cloud or automate parts of your business, your best next step is to partner with a firm that specializes in IT solutions. You don’t have to pursue these challenges flying solo—in fact, you shouldn’t! Technology is changing so fast that you need a partner who can help you navigate those changes.
Cybersecurity is not a destination, it’s a journey! Keep moving! New threats appear and new strategies must be employed to protect your network from those threats. We’d love to partner with you, equipping you to utilize technology as you pursue your growth goals for the rest of this year and beyond!
Reach out to alison@holstonit.com to learn more!
