We live in the era of startups and small businesses. People often try to realize their ambitions, desires, and knowledge by launching their own projects. Of course, doing business has been influenced by recent events related to the coronavirus epidemic and lockdowns. But there are always new solutions for new challenges. How many digital technologies are in demand among entrepreneurs? What benefits will you get if you start using IT services to solve business problems? Let’s figure it out!
Do we need digital technologies?
The heads of small and medium-sized businesses often asked this question a few years ago. However, today the answer to it is obvious. It is impossible to successfully develop a business project without IT services and new digital technologies. And it doesn’t matter what niche and field of activity you occupy. You cannot do without the help of IT products if you want to compete successfully, attract and retain customers, and grow and develop. IT systems greatly simplify the functioning and management. The main thing is to approach their implementation competently.
What changes should we expect?
Today, almost any business and startups use certain IT services. As a result, they receive some advantages and increase the chances of successfully achieving desired goals. What advantages do digital technologies give?
- Cost reduction. Today it is not necessary to rent an office to assemble a team. On the contrary, after the epidemic and lockdowns, remote work has become not just a fashion trend, but salvation for many.
- Sales growth. IT services increase lead and transaction conversions by managing the progress of the transaction. In addition, you can attract new customers more effectively by using new forms of communication and advertising.
- Improved management. By organizing work processes, you can always optimize and automate them, increasing the efficiency of teamwork. Do not forget about analytics and the introduction of new management systems.
Examples of tools for busines
Using IT services greatly simplifies business management. Moreover, it helps to find new customers, and hence new resources for growth and development. Today, the use of business platforms is not just a fashionable trend, but a vital necessity against the background of lockdowns, recession, and other serious problems. It is not surprising that the market has responded to this demand. There are hundreds of business applications and platforms for every taste. On the one hand, it’s good when there is a choice. But on the other hand, it is necessary to spend a lot of time and money trying to evaluate the most popular corporate applications. If you don’t value your time and money, go ahead. But if you don’t want to waste your resources, try the most effective business tools that have already proven their usefulness. We are talking about the leaders of corporate applications with millions of active users. Let’s take a closer look at them.
Microsoft Teams
Teams is a popular product for managing business processes from a well-known IT company. Why do small teams and large companies choose this platform? Teams offers a wide range of functionality for organizing, optimizing, and automating work processes. The platform combines all Microsoft cloud services in one place. You will have everything you need at your fingertips for effective project management and planning for future development.
Internal and external communications are very important at all stages of business construction. Microsoft Teams offers everything you need for communication. Communicate in private/public chats, make video calls, discuss new ideas and current tasks in video conferences, send important documents, set up notifications, and much more. Teams provides a huge set of useful tools. One of the interesting features is the possibility of simultaneous editing of documents by several team members. Such an approach significantly speeds up work and helps to avoid mistakes.
Do you lack functionality? You can always install additional services! Install a VoIP service to maximize the use of a business phone to communicate with partners and customers. Use Microsoft Teams SMS for mass SMS mailing, and promotions, arrange meetings with partners, find new customers, process requests from them, and much more! Accessibility (there is a multifunctional free version) and mobility (Microsoft Teams is available on all popular systems) make Teams one of the most popular and effective business products on the market.
Slack
Here is another business tool that shares a leadership position with Microsoft Teams. Slack also has a multi-million community of active users from all over the world and thousands of positive reviews. Such figures are not surprising, because Slack offers unique opportunities.
The communication functionality is worth considering in more detail. Slack is a powerful corporate messenger. It has all the necessary tools for communication and document exchange. Communicate in private/public channels (the local name of chats), exchange voice messages, set up notifications in important channels, and use keyword/word search. There is no point in wasting time listing all the available functionality and opportunities for interaction between team members in Slack. There are too many of them and sometimes they are not as obvious as it seems at first glance.
The next advantage of the business platform that sets it apart from its competitors is the ability to integrate third-party applications. Unlike Teams, there is a huge library with third-party applications. Slack app directory offers users to install all the necessary tools from more than 2.5 thousand offers, and the extensions are completely free!
Why integrate other applications? Thanks to them, you can create a single workspace that will take into account all the nuances and requirements of your business. These are delivery and control of tasks, process analytics, marketing tools, expanding communication capabilities, working with clients, bots, and much more. All products are divided into the appropriate categories so that you can quickly navigate among the applications.
Thanks to the integration, Slack turns from a corporate messenger (while maintaining this functionality) into a universal business tool for project management and workflow optimization. Being mobile and accessible (offers are similar to Microsoft Teams), Slack platform is especially popular among small IT teams and startups.
