Three Technology Solutions to Grow Your Business

Technology is developing at an ever more rapid pace and one of the main beneficiaries has been the business community. Today’s advancements have allowed companies to improve their productivity while often being able to decrease costs at the same time. Many of these technologies enable a business to conduct trade around the world, without having to expand its base of operations. There are a few that can give a company a particular advantage over its competition.

Three Technologies that Can Grow Business

Staying in business today, not to mention expanding a company, relies heavily on keeping the lines of communication open. Data must be made available to employees at a moment’s notice, no matter where they are located. Here are some of today’s technologies that can accomplish that:

1. Colocation — This is the term used for keeping servers and telecommunication hardware in a data center located somewhere other than the company’s offices. These facilities are specially designed to provide an adequate amount of power for servers, including a backup supply in case of an outage. They also have better climate control to keep servers from overheating. Data centers provide greater security because they are located off-site from the business and better connectivity because they have redundancy systems the business office likely would not contain.

2. Voice over Internet Provider (VoIP) — Using a VoIP hosting service allows a business to send data, voice and multimedia packages over the Internet rather than through traditional phone lines. VoIP can provide better reliability because the web service provider dedicates a server to the connection, providing uninterrupted communication from computer to phone, or phone to phone. VoIP allows workers to more easily telecommute from home or to work from various locations as the business grows, without having to add more phone numbers. For companies with more than one office, calls between the various locations can be made without charge.

3. Project Management Software — These programs increase productivity of employees while they work on projects. Overall deadlines, as well as those of each individual team member, can be accessed by everyone while the project runs. Progress can be tracked by managers, including whether a project is staying on budget. When new members join the team in the middle of a project, they can get up to speed quickly because all the information is maintained in a central data base. The software can also be used as a training tool for new employees to show them the methodology the company uses to complete projects. The reports it generates can be used as a marketing tool to demonstrate to prospective clients the kind of work the company can accomplish.

Technology provides several avenues for businesses to compete and grow on a global scale. Some allow employees to work from locations outside the office without losing access to valuable information, while others increase productivity by focusing them on projects that need to be accomplished. With some investment in resources and employee training, these technologies increase efficiency, and can help a business to grow.

Author Bio: Sandra Hopkins writes for a website that provides project management software reviews and offers advice to business owners on which type of software will help their business to grow.