What does it take to run a growing business? Actually, there’s no one answer. We’ve come up with five essential ways you can improve the way your business operates and some of the tools that can make that job easier.
1. Getting more done
Work doesn’t stop just because you’re away from your desk. So neither can you and your team. There are emails to reply to, documents to check, and presentations to prepare. And you all need to be able to get to, work on, and share it all at a moment’s notice.
One way to do it…
Start storing your documents somewhere your team can always get to. Collaboration and cloud storage tools let you and your colleagues open, edit, and even co-create work – on any device, wherever you are.
2. Working better together
Small businesses move fast. Which can make it really hard to stay in the loop on important projects. And of course you want everyone to be able to work how, where, and when they want – but you also need to know you can all stay in touch and share your work.
One way to do it…
Give video meetings another chance. They’ve come a long way – apps like Teams now include features like interactive whiteboards, instant messaging, and screen sharing.
3. Building your business
More revenue, more customers, more people. When everything takes off, you want to know you can keep up. You don’t want to have to jump between apps or wade through a filing cabinet to see how each area of your business is doing. It should all be right there – in a dedicated dashboard.
One way to do it…
Use cloud-based project management tools to stay on top of internal tasks, teams, and workloads.
4. Safeguarding your data
Unfortunately, hackers are well aware of your challenges, and they’re becoming increasingly sophisticated. Maybe you don’t have time to keep up with all that, which makes your organisation an easy target. On top of everything else, you need to be sure business, employee, and customer data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands…
One way to do it…
Ensure your business is ahead of the threats. Even the smallest businesses should be using enterprise-grade threat protection. Nothing gets past it – not even spam emails, malware, or phishing scams.
5. Keeping it simple
You bought, installed, and set up the technology yourself. Who else will your employees turn to for help using it? Except it’s possible you don’t know any more about their device than they do. And with everything else on your plate, it’s not like you have time to troubleshoot.
One way to do it…
Device management solutions make it easier for you to help when new computers and phones enter your business. Give employees access to those tools so they have everything they need to set up, customise, and troubleshoot on their own.
There’s lots to do. And even more ways you could be doing it. But finding, buying, and setting up the technology to run your growing business is easier than you might think. Because you’ll find solutions for doing all of it in Office 365. Save 10% on Office 365 Business Premium with code AATSAVE10.
