State of the Tech Union for Small Business – Explaining The “Must Have” List

Continuing our State of the Tech Union blog series, I’m going to dig a little deeper into some of the “must have” tech inclusions for small business. To recap, in our first post I said that the three tech elements a business MUST have today are a website, a plan to actively track your online presence, and an efficient way to organize your business information by utilizing software and web tools. Here’s why these are so important:

A Website: This may seem like a no-brainer to some. To others who have survived for decades without a website, its importance may seem over emphasized. The bottom line is that every business needs a website, and it’s not enough to just list your basic information. In an age filled with people that are starved for information, a lack of information can send a tremendous message – and probably not the one you want. If potential clients are searching for your business online and are not finding answers, they will either give up and go elsewhere or continue with a slight distrust of your brand until you can earn their trust with exceptional service. A website is the ultimate platform for you to take control of your brand and how it is projected to the world.

Tracking Your Online Presence: There is no excuse why you shouldn’t be tracking what is being said about your business online. Even if you don’t have a website, people are probably talking about your business on the web. Good or bad, you should at least know what they are saying. This can be as basic as typing your business name (or even your name, for that matter) into Google and seeing what results come up. If you want to make this process easy there are advanced options like using an automated service to track and alert you when your brand is mentioned online. If you are doing a manual Google search, make sure you do it at least once a week. As they say, knowledge is power.

Organize and Access Information: As an internal topic that may seem like it has little to do with technology, I can’t help but to point out that if you haven’t looked into some of the new products for organizing your company’s information recently, you may be really missing out. When it comes to managing client lists, bookkeeping, and internal files, utilizing software and tools can be a real time saver and provide backups in case of emergency. This doesn’t mean you have to go completely paperless just yet (although some companies are doing just that) but it can’t hurt to check out options that could make your business processes easier, quicker, and cheaper.

As always, let us know what you think and come connect to us on Twitter and Facebook.

About the Author: Jandee Ferland is the Social Network Engineer at IC. She is an avid fan of any technology that makes life a little easier and can often be found checking out new apps, posting on Twitter (@ICtweet), or learning how to podcast.