8 Tech Solutions to Maximize Your Return on Investment

Your business is an investment. Particularly for the entrepreneur, for the small business owner, this fact is crucial. There’s no buffer here—your financial success depends on your business. That’s why you spent so much time and hard work actualizing your concept.

Now that you’ve got it going, your business could benefit from advanced technology. Never a substitute for a good idea, new tech is for augmentation. It’s for increasing the effectiveness of your current efforts. Technology can boost the competent business to the exceptional level. With these technology solutions, your ROI will improve because you’re addressing both external (customer-facing) and internal operations of your business.

Customer-facing technology

1. Near Field Communication (NFC)

NFC enables your customer to pay through a smartphone simply by placing it close to the reader. You may have heard of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) before. RFID is primarily associated with the Internet of Things.

NFC is a form of RFID for your tech-savvy customers who want to take advantage of mobile wallet with iOS, Android, and other compatible devices. With NFC, you’ll cast a net to compete with big retailers like Target, Whole Foods, and Best Buy. If you’re mobile and do a lot of business in the field, it’ll come in handy there, too.

2. Responsive website

Websites with responsive design will look great on smartphones, so if customers want to visit your site while they’re out-and-about, this is the way to go. Can people buy your product or service on your site? According to the Nielsen Norman Group, 40% of users will go elsewhere if your site takes more than three seconds to load. A responsive site loads faster for a better user experience. If they stick around on the site, they’re more likely to make a purchase.

3. Mobile app

Some of your customers may prefer accessing you through a mobile app over visiting your website. Customers who are loyal to you, and those who just love apps, will be happy to download a professionally-built app. HTML5 development will make it so people can download your app on any platform. Check out this list of mobile app development tools.

4. Customer Service Software

If they’re not talking to you face-to-face, customers will communicate via internet or phone. Customer service software can help you grow your business by making sure customers are satisfied and happy to recommend you. Essentially, this software takes all your electronic interactions with customers, including telephone, and puts them in one place. That way you can respond quickly, and if it’s an FAQ, you can automate responses. You can also make reports and manage ongoing cases.

Internal optimization technology

5. Cloud storage

With cloud storage, you could very well eliminate the need for any on-site record storage, freeing up valuable space. Both Google and Dropbox offer good free cloud storage. Dropbox Business is a popular solution for businesses, with over 500 million users. The storage includes one terabyte of space for each user. Business owners and managers can take advantage of centralized monitoring. You can share a wide variety of file types, including audio, and it will sync from PCs to mobile devices. You can recover old files and adjust security settings easily as well.

6. Accounting software

If you’re running a smaller business with 9 employees or less, you may want to consider a free option, such as Wave. Bigger than that, you’ll want to go with Intuit Quickbooks or Freshbooks. All of these will enable you to run your books at a lower price than hiring a bookkeeper and an accountant.

Read more about accounting software.

7. Time theft prevention software

The off-site, contract employee can help save you money on payroll—these employees work only when you need them. And, if you’re working from home, your entire workforce could consist of gig employees who do on-demand projects for you. But the problem is you don’t necessarily know how they’re spending their time. On average, employee time theft equals about 54 minutes per day—for two employees at ten dollars an hour, that’s nearly five thousand dollars a year. Time theft prevention software will help you cut down on that waste so you can improve your operation.

8. E-commerce store

Now, you could run the entirety of your sales operation online and cut out the cost of a physical location. This way, you can focus on other aspects of your business, such as marketing, quality control, and innovation. Or, set up an online store to run alongside your physical operation. Either way, setting up for e-commerce will keep you up to date with the growing number of internet shoppers, so you can earn their business. E-commerce is an inexpensive, simple way to maximize your ROI.

Author: Daniel Matthews is a writer from Boise, Idaho who specializes in business culture, business communication, tech, and social media marketing. Please find him on Twitter @danielmatthews0