Technology for a Business: 8 Must Have Solutions in Your Digital Arsenal!

[1] Business Website

Think of your business’s front door and address, a business website is the digital version of it. Having a website is one of the rudimentary and arguably the most important steps towards taking a business online. All your marketing campaigns, cold outreach attempts, and SEO optimization aim toward getting your intended audience on the website.

Once they are on the website, the goal updates to take the visitors through a user journey - from landing to conversion. To maximize the chances, businesses showcase their products/services along with their expertise, USPs, testimonials from previous clients, and a bunch of additional KPIs. The primary objective always stands to convince the visiting audience to get in touch with the business, eventually converting them from a lead to a potential customer.

Depending on the type of your business, the overall journey and the time to convert a lead into a customer may widely differ. Even if they do not convert into a customer, the data they leave behind can be converted into valuable insights to help you refine and optimize your website.

[2] Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Model

The success of a business is more or less defined by the number of leads it can convert into revenue-generating customers. However, there’s an additional angle that needs to be addressed to truly ensure success, and that is retaining these customers to create a recurring cash influx for the business.

Implementing a CRM solution allows your business to streamline most of the customer-related concerns coming from different channels into one centralized module. This allows the business to track customer behavior, segment potential customers into categories to make marketing more refined, track their overall performance, and much more. Everything combined allows the business to boost customer satisfaction rates exponentially, increasing the chances of retaining customers for a longer timeframe.

However, realistically, a CRM single-handedly cannot guarantee better retention rates. Depending on the exact business model and the type of products/services being offered, there could be several additional strategies and factors that need to be considered. For example, in the case of high capital offerings, retaining a customer might be slightly trickier compared to a low-markup or subscription-based product.

[3] Payment Processing Tool

Here’s a horror story for you entrepreneurs, a customer lands on your business website, goes through the entire user journey, and absolutely loves the product as it aligns perfectly with their needs. The customer is convinced to purchase the product and goes to the payment window, only to find out that the business only accepts payments from a specific channel that the customer does not have. Disappointed, the customer decides to leave the website and continue with their day, or worse, start checking out the competitors’ offerings! A true nightmare right? 

As an entrepreneur, it is important to capitalize on every single opportunity possible. Missing out on potential customers due to simply not having a proper payment processing tool in place is disastrous. It is important to prioritize customer convenience throughout the time they spend on the website, especially when they are trying to make any sort of purchase. Having a payment processing tool that supports multiple payment methods could be a game changer.

Even in the website’s UI, the payment option should always be highlighted to make sure that it is always on top of the customer’s head (but make sure it isn’t obstructing their experience). Any legal compliance related to online payment should also be handled and all the necessary security measures should be adhered to so that the users feel comfortable while making a payment without the fear of their data getting into the wrong hands.

[4] Inventory Management Software

It is quite impossible to scale a product business without robust inventory management software after a certain point. For example, inventory management software helps track stock levels, manage reordering processes, optimize supply chains, etc. This maximizes the profitability of a business by maintaining a balance between procurement of materials while trying to avoid overstocking. A higher inclination on either end may result in unsatisfied customers or clogged working capital channels. In case your materials are perishable, you might have to book straight-up losses in the coming days.

Previously, businesses were forced to spend hours behind inventory after the closing hours to track the sales and check each product to decide whether to restock it or wait for another cycle. This entire process was scrapped with the introduction of smart inventory management software, which not only keeps track of every single item that goes in and out of the warehouse or store but also automatically recommends the restocking of specific items based on prior data of change in demand patterns from prior years.

[5] Analytics Systems

At the surface level, investing in an analytics system may seem like an unnecessary layer of added complexity, but that is far from the truth. Running a business is not simple, there are so many factors to account for, while simultaneously trying to figure out the best possible approach that helps with the upcoming challenges.

Oftentimes you would be juggling multiple metrics trying to correlate various datasets to try and make sense out of them. Keeping track of it all manually does not make sense, instead, having an analytics system that collects and stores various vital business metrics can come in handy to store and extract data as required.

Taking it a step further, businesses integrate AI within their analytics systems, as it is one of the most popular emerging technologies for business. This enables functionalities like predictive analysis where the model could automatically generate insights about the upcoming market trends based on the historic data stored.

[6] Third-Party Integrations

Many first-time entrepreneurs are under the impression that they will be paying for the development of every single feature from scratch. Well, that is certainly not the case, the good thing about software is, once built, it can be replicated and licensed/sold to other businesses. This allows the buyers to save on the development cost and simultaneously get the benefits of features they wanted in a near-perfect sense.

Some of the technologies that we discussed previously can be integrated within your business software using the same method, saving a ton of development time and business resources. For example: Stripe and PayPal are some popular payment processing tools that provide their APIs that allow developers to integrate these technologies. Even CRM models can be integrated externally by tying up with brands like Zoho and Salesforce to provide your business with the necessary features.

Many businesses choose to opt for these third-party integrations in the early stages of their business and it works out for them. They are limited to functionalities that serve the masses, if your business is starting with an extremely unique proposition, developing the necessary verticals from scratch might favor your business better in the long run.

[7] Industry-Specific Software Needs

Certain industries have specific requirements that are not practiced in any other field, tech-enabling these practices has revolutionized many industries over the last few decades and it is only growing with emerging technologies being introduced in businesses across the market quite frequently. We will be getting into further details in an upcoming industry-specific section.

The learning curve of these technologies for the employees might seem like a concern because everyone does not come from a technological background, and it’s right to think in that direction. However, companies offering these services offer guides and make the technology extremely intuitive, making sure anyone can use it with minimal training.

[8] Custom Software

Most businesses work with standard integration services and off-the-shelf solutions available in the market. However, a small domain of entrepreneurs has requirements that cannot be fulfilled by any of the software available. At this point they can opt for one of the options available - 

1. Compromise and completely give up on the niche functionalities they were willing to leverage.
2. In case your requirements do exist but not in a single service, a development partner can use multiple modules to build a solution that covers all of the required functionalities.
3. The final option is to invest in a custom software solution that is built keeping your exact requirements in mind.

No doubt custom software seems to be the most effective solution of them all, but what is the best scenario to use it largely depends on the intent of the entrepreneur. If the goal is to simply automate the regular tasks, going for a custom solution might not give you a satisfying ROI.

However, if you’re looking to disrupt the market with functionalities that set your business apart from the crowd, then custom software should be a no-brainer for you.

[A] Healthcare

1. Drug Discovery: Technologies like machine learning have amplified the rate at which the testing and research of drugs are conducted, reducing the time required to discover a new drug significantly.
2. Electronic Health Records: A patient’s detailed medical history is extremely crucial to provide them with the best diagnosis possible. The medical industry is using blockchain technology to store patient’s health records in a secure and easy-to-access environment.
3. Surgical Assistance: Robotic technology has now become advanced enough to conduct surgeries on human bodies under the supervision of an experienced doctor. However, it is speculated that soon there will be no need for monitoring and these robots will conduct some of the most complex surgeries with ease.

[B] Retail

1. Self Checkouts: This allows the customers to check out the items they bought without the assistance of a cashier saving them from standing in a line for hours. An enhancement to this technology is in the works where the customers can simply buy an item and walk out of the store and the amount will be automatically debited from their account.
2. Electronic Labels: The items tagged with an e-label can have dynamic pricing that can be controlled remotely by a supervisor, or it can be integrated with AI to check various metrics and competitor pricing and adjust the price of each item dynamically.
3. Store Planners: Walk-in supermarkets have multiple aisles and shelves but the items are not stocked randomly, there is a whole backend that works towards analyzing the placement and its impact on customer’s purchasing behavior. This data is then used to optimize product placements to maximize sales.

[C] Media and Entertainment

1. Streaming: Allows real-time audio and video delivery over the internet. It has become very popular, especially with the younger generation, leading to the launch of some streaming platforms like Twitch, along with gigantic companies like YouTube participating in the streaming culture as well. 
2. Media Editing and VFX Tools: Be it a regular guidelines check, or creating entire virtual environments from scratch, most of the media available online is edited to some extent. Over the years, the capabilities of these VFX and media editing technologies have improved to a point where differentiating between real and virtually created objects is a challenge.
3. Role of AI in Entertainment: From content recommendations based on the user’s viewing habits on platforms like Netflix and Spotify to creating media content from scratch to speed up the work of certain movie studios, AI has been a game changer boosting the user experience and productivity akin.

[D] Manufacturing

1. SCM or Supply Chain Management Platform: It is essential for a manufacturing business to handle a large exchange of materials and products daily. Having centralized software to monitor several crucial supply chain-related information like inventory status, product shipping updates, and analytics for upcoming trends, allows stakeholders to make decisions more effectively. 
2. IIoT or Industrial Internet of Things: creates a network of sensors and other connected devices deployed in a manufacturing environment, they record various necessary information and feed it to a central software that is like a part of the SCM, the data is then evaluated for taking necessary actions.
3. CNC or Computer Numeric Control: Ever seen those giant industrial robot arms on a production line assembling anything from a small bag of chips to entire cars? It is fascinating to see how precise these arms are with their movements, and the entire credit for controlling them goes to the CNC technology. It uses machine learning and certain special programming infrastructure to guide these machine arms to operate.

[E] Transportation

1. Autonomous Vehicles: Possibly one of the most trending technologies in the transportation industry right now. Although the concept of autonomous vehicles has been around for a long time, Tesla released their first commercial self-driving car in recent years and it took over the market by storm. Using AI technologies like machine learning, deep learning, and computer vision these vehicles can navigate through busy traffic without the need of any human interference. Companies are looking to expand their use cases by using them for logistics.
2. Optimal Route Planning: Given there are multiple packages delivered by every single unit, sometimes the delivery location can be across cities. It is really important to set up optimal delivery routes so that all the deliveries can be completed within minimum time and distance. 
3. EV-Centric Transportation: Recent years brought a boom in the sales of electric-powered vehicles. Given its sustainable energy-consuming approach and cheaper fuel prices, consumers are showing great interest in the technology. Looking at the surging demand, several companies have launched their electric vehicles and the infrastructure around it is expanding rapidly, with more recharge stations and service centers emerging every day.

[F] Real Estate

1. Property Valuation: The exact price of a property is difficult to estimate, considering there are multiple factors that shape the exact cost. Using machine learning and predictive analysis, property owners can compare their property to other properties in the area, assess the presence of schools, hospitals, and other essential infrastructure nearby which impacts the cost of the property, and make a final decision.
2. Virtual Tours: Several VR service providers enable property owners to create a virtual replica of their premises that potential leads can visit and explore from the comfort of their own home. This largely expands the possible number of prospects willing to check out the property, which may lead to the property owners ending up with a better offer than they otherwise would have.
3. Various Property Management Platforms: In case a property owner is listing multiple properties at once or maybe there are multiple properties on rent that the property owner needs to manage. For such scenarios, dedicated property management tools have been developed, some of which we built ourselves for our clients!

[i] Ideation

It all starts with the entrepreneurs explaining their business goals, that they wish to achieve with the technologies on an abstract level, to the service providers. This is followed by the service providers asking the clients a few questions that further expand on the idea. From an abstract level, the discussion phases into a low-level discussion where the provider tries to understand the nitty-gritty of each module the client wants to integrate. The discussion is not technology-focused, but rather purely focused on the business logic.

Simultaneous to this process, the service provider recommends certain technologies and enhancements that can further improve the outcome of the final solution. Waving a green flag to these suggestions is completely the customer’s call. Once all the initial discussions are completed and the project scope is decided, a BRD is drafted, which is signed by both parties, officially starting the project.

[ii] Designing

Your software needs to interact with your users, whether it be your target audience or your in-house employees, and to make it possible having an interactive and robust UI is an absolute necessity.

The developers start by designing various screens for the software, creating a complete flow interconnecting these pages along with connections to any external pages that might have relevance here as well. The branding and other visual due diligence are also completed in this phase, making the intended product visually ready. However, it is still just a hollow shell, the real work begins after the design is completed. 

[iii] Development

During this step, the developers work with a specified tech stack that is mutually decided by both parties to build the necessary functions and the different software verticals in the most optimal and future-proof way possible. Once the development is completed, these separate modules are interconnected using APIs to ensure seamless data exchange wherever necessary.

Parallelly, any functionality or modules that weren’t built from scratch are integrated as well, using the relevant APIs to save development time without compromising on any of the requirements. Once completed, the development phase is almost over. The developers perform exploratory testing to identify any issues that surface. Once cleared from their end, the product is pushed for testing.

[iv] Testing

The quality control analysts(QAs) scour through every single possible user scenario to identify any possible bugs within the product. If an issue is identified, a ticket is raised and sent to the developers. They promptly resolve the issue and revert to the QAs, for confirmation.

After the QA testing phase is completed, the entrepreneur has two options. Either to deploy the project right away or to go through a few more testing phases commonly known as the alpha and beta tests. Where the product is first provided to the internal employees of the company, followed by releasing the product to a few chosen end-users. 

The primary goal is similar to the previous testing phase, i.e. identifying any possible issues that might have been left out, only this time a larger set of eyes are trying the product out. Once everyone associated with the testing phase is satisfied with the solution, it is finally time to go to the next phase of development.

[v] Deployment

Finally, the developed and tested product(s) with all the necessary integrations is deployed to the final audience and all the users are given access to it. There can be multiple distribution channels for the product, if it is a consumer-serving product the best option is to list it on a relevant marketplace. Instead, if you wish to distribute the product to a specific group of individuals, you can distribute the product link via email.

Once deployed the service providers typically provide a complimentary service for a fixed period (90 days in our case), to make sure the product and the technologies are functioning as intended in the final environment.

[vi] Enhancements and Maintenance

But wait, that's not where the client-service provider partnership ends. Product development is a recurring affair. You cannot simply develop a solution and expect it to provide the same value over time without any upgrades. Sooner or later, either due to a pivot in your business objectives or because of a new technology being introduced in the market, you will feel the need to rework your product.

Even if that isn’t the case and you’re not competing against anyone with your product, simply using it to streamline your business goals without pivoting at all. It is always recommended that you run a maintenance cycle on your product to make sure that everything is working fine from time to time. Most development companies provide this service for an annual fee of a small percentage of the total development cost.

[a] Development Cost

1. Technology integration has high upfront costs, which might hinder the profits of some small-scale businesses, and with more customizations, the cost of development is expected to go up. However, using third-party integrations instead of building all the modules from scratch balances out the costs to some extent.
2. Some service providers demand unreasonably high maintenance costs that might be a problem for some companies. However, we care about our customers and keep it at a minimal 15% of the development cost as an annual maintenance fee.
3. Hidden Costs are rather uncommon, but entrepreneurs should be prepared for it nonetheless. They typically surface when the complexity of a certain functionality is underestimated during the planning phase. Good for you though! In our 11+ years of experience, none of our clients had to face this issue because of our extensive planning protocols and fixed cost and time commitment policies.

[b] Resistance To Change From Employees

1. Organizations face the issue of employees not willing to make changes to the day-to-day routine that they’re used to. When a new technology is introduced, the organization might have to run workshops to explain to the employees the benefits of adapting to these changes.
2. Some solutions are complicated and employees across several industries are not technically sound. This makes them hesitant to try out new technologies in their workplace. However, with appropriate training programs and tutorials/courses, this issue can be tackled with ease.