Successful businesses make technology work for them, not the other way round. When used correctly, technology can make every task much easier to accomplish. So if you’re looking to increase staff efficiency, incorporate technology into your daily operations with the following methods.

It can be challenging for small- to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) with limited resources to get their marketing efforts off the ground, but marketing automation can help them gain a competitive edge and achieve success easier. By automating repetitive tasks and marketing more effectively on multiple online channels, you save money and provide a better experience for your customers.

Do you want to bolster your marketing campaigns? Then create videos and post them on social media. It doesn’t take much to make videos — you can finish high-quality ones using your smartphone and accessible video editing software. This makes them one of the most cost-efficient ways to target and convert potential customers.

Businesses rely heavily on data for their daily operations. They use it for everything, from building client relationships to developing marketing strategies and so much more. But without data backups, businesses risk losing data in case of a disaster.

Businesses have more access to customer data these days, thanks to customer analytics tools being more affordable and powerful than ever. However, a lot of data is unnecessary and can take up precious memory space. To ensure that your insights are relevant and useful, you must have a well-defined data collection system in place.

People are visual creatures, which means we interpret visual data better than written words. That’s why most businesses turn to dashboards as a business intelligence tool to present data in a way that’s easy to understand, making dashboards a critical part of the business analytics process.

For years, big companies have been harnessing the power of business intelligence (BI) to improve business performance. And for them, paying experts to analyze large data sets is no issue. It’s different with small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). SMBs also store large volumes of data, but many are wary of spending too much on BI. Still, SMBs should leverage BI to gain an edge — fortunately, there’s plenty of budget-friendly business tools and resources available nowadays.

No business ever gets very far without a steady stream of customers. They are your primary source of revenue, so taking care of your relationships with them must be your highest priority. To effectively foster customer relationships, your business should leverage customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

If your managed IT services provider has been using the same business continuity plan (BCP) for years, your organization may be in trouble. BCPs should continuously be updated so you avoid overlooking or underestimating certain issues. Not updating your BCP is just one mistake that can harm your business.

The key to finding competitive advantage is by embracing innovation. So no matter how trivial or whimsical a technological development may seem, you’ll want to keep an open mind about what it can do for you. But for a small company, what does “embracing innovation” actually entail? Read on to learn more.