Want Your Small Business to Look and Operate Like a Big One? Here’s How.
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How New Technologies Help Small Businesses
Look and Operate Like Big Ones
Big businesses have always had major advantages over their smaller competitors, including
more history, bigger budgets, and wider footprints. Going up against a well-established
juggernaut used to mean exhausting your resources, spreading your business thin, and still
probably coming up short.
But these days, with the right technologies, small businesses can even the score.
How do new technologies help small businesses look and operate like big ones?
The Technologies That Help Small Businesses Compete
These are just some of the technological breakthroughs that have
helped small businesses compete with big ones:
· Virtual mailbox services. With virtual mailbox services, your
small business can gain access to a virtualized mail experience.
You can have all your physical mails sent to a specific box, then
you can review that mail remotely, shredding, scanning, or
forwarding as you see fit. It's a way to greatly improve your
productivity while also allowing you to operate your business
entirely remotely. And because it's so inexpensive, it's affordable
even in the most restrictive budgets.
· Remote operations and collaboration. There are countless services and apps that are
now designed for facilitating remote and
hybrid operations. These include collaboration
apps and project management platforms that
help you partner with people from around the
world. Operating remotely is a huge
advantage for small businesses, since it
greatly reduces your operating expenses while
simultaneously giving you global access to
potential talent. The fact that many of these
apps are free or inexpensive is even better.
· Cloud-based services. Cloud-based services allow you to get access to technology
using only the internet. With the right plans and packages, you can get access to the same
technological power that big companies have, but for a fraction of the cost and without
needing dedicated server rooms or data centers to maintain your operations.
· Streamlined web design. These days, you can put anything online, including storefronts,
web-hosted apps, and any type of content you can imagine. Thanks to the multitude of
streamlined web design tools available, it's possible for anyone to become their own web
designer and developer (though it's still a good idea to work with professionals in many
cases). Even if you have limited experience and a limited budget, you can put together
something that looks professional.
· Automation. Automation technology is also huge for small businesses, enabling them to
save time and money while reducing human error at the same time. At sufficiently large
scales, automation can enable your business to multiply its operating capacity many times
over – though, of course, not all business operations can be automated at this time.
· AI and data analytics. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies
have also dramatically changed the landscape of competition between small and large
businesses. AI-based tools are available to practically all business owners were the same
price. In the hands of a competent small business owner, these tools can provide a kind of
shortcut into the data analytics and predictive analytics capacity of large-scale operations.
Critical Advantages of Small Businesses
It's important to remember that in addition to having technologies that allow you to compete
directly with large businesses, small business owners have several innate advantages. It's in
your best interest to emphasize and invest in these advantages to maximize their impact:
· Agility and flexibility. Large, entrenched businesses are usually bogged down by
bureaucratic structures; bureaucracy can be valuable, but it also has a tendency to slow
things down and resist change. In contrast, your small business is going to be highly agile
and flexible. You're going to be capable of developing more novel innovations, and you'll be
able to pivot on a dime if necessary.
· Niche targeting. You may not be able to compete with large businesses in terms of
targeting large, generic audiences. But you can certainly outcompete them when it comes to
niche targeting. If you focus on specific target demographics with very specialized needs, you
can become the definitive expert in that niche – no matter what else your bigger rivals are
doing.
· Personal relationships. Large businesses have a tendency to detach themselves from
individual customer relationships; they focus on customer acquisition and relationship
management at scale, which often requires chatbots and formulaic, assembly line-style
customer service. But as a small business owner, you may be able to dedicate more
resources to providing a more personalized, individual-level experience. Not everyone wants
or appreciates this, but it’s a major selling point for certain audiences.
By playing to your advantages and utilizing the best technology the modern era has to offer,
small business owners can stand up to their corporate rivals and change the industry for the
better. Since small businesses drive so much innovation and economic growth, this is
ultimately a win for everybody.
Look and Operate Like Big Ones
Big businesses have always had major advantages over their smaller competitors, including
more history, bigger budgets, and wider footprints. Going up against a well-established
juggernaut used to mean exhausting your resources, spreading your business thin, and still
probably coming up short.
But these days, with the right technologies, small businesses can even the score.
How do new technologies help small businesses look and operate like big ones?
The Technologies That Help Small Businesses Compete
These are just some of the technological breakthroughs that have
helped small businesses compete with big ones:
· Virtual mailbox services. With virtual mailbox services, your
small business can gain access to a virtualized mail experience.
You can have all your physical mails sent to a specific box, then
you can review that mail remotely, shredding, scanning, or
forwarding as you see fit. It's a way to greatly improve your
productivity while also allowing you to operate your business
entirely remotely. And because it's so inexpensive, it's affordable
even in the most restrictive budgets.
· Remote operations and collaboration. There are countless services and apps that are
now designed for facilitating remote and
hybrid operations. These include collaboration
apps and project management platforms that
help you partner with people from around the
world. Operating remotely is a huge
advantage for small businesses, since it
greatly reduces your operating expenses while
simultaneously giving you global access to
potential talent. The fact that many of these
apps are free or inexpensive is even better.
· Cloud-based services. Cloud-based services allow you to get access to technology
using only the internet. With the right plans and packages, you can get access to the same
technological power that big companies have, but for a fraction of the cost and without
needing dedicated server rooms or data centers to maintain your operations.
· Streamlined web design. These days, you can put anything online, including storefronts,
web-hosted apps, and any type of content you can imagine. Thanks to the multitude of
streamlined web design tools available, it's possible for anyone to become their own web
designer and developer (though it's still a good idea to work with professionals in many
cases). Even if you have limited experience and a limited budget, you can put together
something that looks professional.
· Automation. Automation technology is also huge for small businesses, enabling them to
save time and money while reducing human error at the same time. At sufficiently large
scales, automation can enable your business to multiply its operating capacity many times
over – though, of course, not all business operations can be automated at this time.
· AI and data analytics. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies
have also dramatically changed the landscape of competition between small and large
businesses. AI-based tools are available to practically all business owners were the same
price. In the hands of a competent small business owner, these tools can provide a kind of
shortcut into the data analytics and predictive analytics capacity of large-scale operations.
Critical Advantages of Small Businesses
It's important to remember that in addition to having technologies that allow you to compete
directly with large businesses, small business owners have several innate advantages. It's in
your best interest to emphasize and invest in these advantages to maximize their impact:
· Agility and flexibility. Large, entrenched businesses are usually bogged down by
bureaucratic structures; bureaucracy can be valuable, but it also has a tendency to slow
things down and resist change. In contrast, your small business is going to be highly agile
and flexible. You're going to be capable of developing more novel innovations, and you'll be
able to pivot on a dime if necessary.
· Niche targeting. You may not be able to compete with large businesses in terms of
targeting large, generic audiences. But you can certainly outcompete them when it comes to
niche targeting. If you focus on specific target demographics with very specialized needs, you
can become the definitive expert in that niche – no matter what else your bigger rivals are
doing.
· Personal relationships. Large businesses have a tendency to detach themselves from
individual customer relationships; they focus on customer acquisition and relationship
management at scale, which often requires chatbots and formulaic, assembly line-style
customer service. But as a small business owner, you may be able to dedicate more
resources to providing a more personalized, individual-level experience. Not everyone wants
or appreciates this, but it’s a major selling point for certain audiences.
By playing to your advantages and utilizing the best technology the modern era has to offer,
small business owners can stand up to their corporate rivals and change the industry for the
better. Since small businesses drive so much innovation and economic growth, this is
ultimately a win for everybody.