Business

5 Ways to Keep Your Business up to Date

In business, the most agile and innovative ones usually survive the longest. Those who fail to keep themselves up to date and in the digital loop usually crumble in the face of competitors who can innovate and adapt to changing market conditions. So, how do you keep your business up to date? Here is how you can do just that:

Build an App

Perhaps nothing says “contemporary” for a business more than having a mobile app. Think about it, any brand that you use today – YouTube, Netflix, Facebook, CNBC, Spotify – all have a mobile app in conjunction with their website. Building an app for your business radiates youth and vigor. It tells your customers and competitors that you can adapt and that you are still crucial players in your niche. Learning how to make an app for beginners, however, is no cakewalk. From setting up a server to handle requests to organizing your database for optimal flow, many complex mechanisms occur in the backend that you’ll have to figure out how to set up on your own.

Retrain Your Staff

Your staff represents your brand anywhere they go. Their skillset and work are what decide the quality and quantity of results that your business produces. This correlation, unfortunately, is seldom acknowledged, much less deemed necessary, by entrepreneurs. If, for example, your staff is trained in the MS Office suite that came out ten years ago, they will be ill-equipped to use the newer and more efficient features that the current MS Office version offers. Invest money in retraining your staff periodically, especially in the tech tools they encounter daily.

Come Up With a Sustainable Technology Plan

In the modern workplace, sustainability is now one of the critical qualities that businesses aim for. Make sure your business has a sustainable technology plan that is within the budget limit. Avoid overspending on frivolous software programs that do not have any real and long-term impact on your business operations. Good technology assets to invest in include app builder toolkits, antivirus programs, and data analytics software. If you have an IT department or at least an IT person, involve them as much as possible, especially during your tech infrastructure planning phase.

Update Your Job Posting/s

Your HR department serves as the gatekeeper of your business; anyone they let in should be an asset to your operations. However, suppose your HR team is posting vacant job positions that have outdated skill or experience requirements. In that case, you risk bringing in people who do not have the modern skills and certifications to perform the job proficiently. For example, if your job posting requires applicants to have expertise in antiquated technologies or software versions, then the person filling the position brings that old-fashioned skill set into the workforce. The result? A business that is outdated and unable to keep up. See to it that the job postings you circulate online are updated at least once every month.

Freshen Your Website Up

Just as your drab white walls need a fresh coat of paint every so often, your website needs to be reinvigorated with a new design theme or feature. While it’s sensible to funnel resources into your business’ mobile app, you should also make sure your website is getting the same level of attention and resources put into it. You can check with a UX designer or a software engineer on what new features you can add or swap out. In some cases, a mere change of background color or font style can do the trick. Research what recent design trends your target audience responds to. Yesterday, they may have been Helvetica fans; the next day, they respond better to Verdana.

Unless you are a law firm that benefits from being thought of as an experienced dinosaur in their respective niche, you have to display a youthful and vigorous brand. You can explore many other routes to keeping your business up to date, such as switching your data storage solutions from physical hard drives to the Cloud and outsourcing small-scale tasks to drive costs down. 

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