Technology has always been a wonderful friend to the entrepreneur, and this trend has only accelerated in recent years as the digital tech landscape grew at a seemingly exponential pace. Because of this, it might seem a bit hard for many already busy business owners and founders to keep up with the latest tools and helpful applications, and even harder for these people to separate wheat from chaff and actually focus on technologies that have a real, meaningful benefit to give them. Because of that, here is a quick guide to the most essential new electronic technologies that every entrepreneur needs to make sure they use.
1. Cloud Computing and Storage
Cloud computing in all its forms, including cloud storage, software applications and hardware tools among others, has only been widely available as a commercial solution for a little over a decade. However, since then, it has taken off enormously and gone far in proving its value to many organizations, individuals and businesses both large and small.
The reasons for this are numerous and obvious: with cloud applications of different kinds, companies can cheaply, scalably and quickly set up powerful software collaboration efforts, hardware sharing time and transfer information produced by the first two to their own members or partners very quickly. Additionally, cloud storage solutions, whether they be for individual needs or vast corporate databases, have proven themselves to be a highly secure and highly effective means of backing up extremely valuable data remotely on a regularly scheduled basis.
The bottom line is that the cloud –as this whole constellation of digital services is called—has been enormously useful in letting companies gain enterprise level data processing and transfer power without the formerly enormous expense that came from having to set up their own systems from scratch.
2. Video Conferencing and Calling
Video conferencing and calling are two mostly similar tools that have also had an enormous impact on how businesses and individual entrepreneurs collaborate with each other and their clients. Through this wide plethora of technologies, ranging in scope from simple mobile device apps like Skype and Tango, to full scale telepresence suites such as those run by Cisco and Microsoft, companies have been able to more effectively handle hiring employees as remote working contractors, deal with customer service requirements and collaborate with business partners cheaply regardless of distance.
Best of all, the technology for video conferencing is both improving and cheapening in price on a nearly daily basis. Small mobile friendly applications are nearly free and often capable of delivering remarkably comprehensive video meeting capabilities, while corporate telepresence suites (with hardware and dedicated technical administration included) are going down in price from hundreds of thousands to just thousands of dollars in set up fees. In between are numerous high quality small to medium business sized web based video conferencing platforms like GoToMeeting and Intercall.
Video conferencing and calling are one of the major components behind today’s increasingly decentralized, cheaper to run and more efficient business environment.
3. Smartphones/Tablets
Smartphones and tablets are both powerful and relatively new technologies that have undergone enormous advancements during the last few years. Both essentially represent small portable computers with nearly as much processing power as full scale laptops and PCs and because of this, their usefulness as business tools goes far beyond the basic functions of each, which are calling and note taking respectively.
In the case of each kind of device, a whole host of work, communication and information management tools are made available for portable use that fits in the palm of a hand, and the organizational benefits of these tools are invaluable to entrepreneurs and business managers anywhere in the world. Phone brands such as Samsung, Apple and LG have created mobile devices that deliver, in addition to their built in or downloadable communication tools, very powerful data storage ability that entrepreneurs can use to save documents, transfer work and send projects or information out to their employees and clients.
4. Mobile Applications
We’ve already covered the power of tablets and smartphones as business tools, but what makes these machines so much more useful than they could ever be on their own is the vast marketplace in mobile applications. As soon as powerful portable computing in mobile devices was coupled with wireless web access, it became only natural that downloadable applications for all sorts of tasks and uses started being developed.
Sure enough, the online application marketplaces for the world’s two biggest mobile device operating systems, Google Android and Apple’s iOS, have both exploded. The Apple apps market currently contains close to a million downloadable applications and Android Market from Google is not far behind. Other apps downloading pages such as those belonging to Windows and Blackberry also offer thousands of little software tools that can do more different things than is possible to count.
On the go business executives and entrepreneurs can access these apps markets to download tools for numerous responsibilities such as accounting, note taking, photography needs, networking and so many others that it’s literally impossible to explain them all. Best of all, many of these apps are free and most cost less than the price of a sandwich at a café. Business organization tools have never been more diverse or more conveniently accessible in human history.
5. Social Media
The web is changing all the time and any business that has something to do with the online world had better adapt with it if it wants to stay competitive. Because of this, no modern company can ignore the impact and power of social media.
With well over 1 billion users worldwide, social media platforms have become an entire parallel internet onto themselves. The hundreds of millions who use them daily spread vast amounts of news, images and information to their friends and followers all the time. This vast digital word-of-mouth system represents an immense marketing and promotion opportunity to any company that learns how to build real human interest in its reputation and brands. The result of knowing this can lead to incredible sales success, but it first requires a company to actually involve itself in social networking.
Author Bio:
Stephan Jukic is a freelance writer who generally covers a variety of subjects relating to the latest changes in white hat SEO, mobile technology, marketing tech and digital security. He also loves to read and write about location-free business, portable business management and finance. When not busy writing or consulting on technology and digital security, he spends his days enjoying life’s adventures either in Canada or Mexico, where he spends part of the year. Connect with Stephan on LinkedIn.
1. Cloud Computing and Storage
Cloud computing in all its forms, including cloud storage, software applications and hardware tools among others, has only been widely available as a commercial solution for a little over a decade. However, since then, it has taken off enormously and gone far in proving its value to many organizations, individuals and businesses both large and small.
The reasons for this are numerous and obvious: with cloud applications of different kinds, companies can cheaply, scalably and quickly set up powerful software collaboration efforts, hardware sharing time and transfer information produced by the first two to their own members or partners very quickly. Additionally, cloud storage solutions, whether they be for individual needs or vast corporate databases, have proven themselves to be a highly secure and highly effective means of backing up extremely valuable data remotely on a regularly scheduled basis.
The bottom line is that the cloud –as this whole constellation of digital services is called—has been enormously useful in letting companies gain enterprise level data processing and transfer power without the formerly enormous expense that came from having to set up their own systems from scratch.
2. Video Conferencing and Calling
Video conferencing and calling are two mostly similar tools that have also had an enormous impact on how businesses and individual entrepreneurs collaborate with each other and their clients. Through this wide plethora of technologies, ranging in scope from simple mobile device apps like Skype and Tango, to full scale telepresence suites such as those run by Cisco and Microsoft, companies have been able to more effectively handle hiring employees as remote working contractors, deal with customer service requirements and collaborate with business partners cheaply regardless of distance.
Best of all, the technology for video conferencing is both improving and cheapening in price on a nearly daily basis. Small mobile friendly applications are nearly free and often capable of delivering remarkably comprehensive video meeting capabilities, while corporate telepresence suites (with hardware and dedicated technical administration included) are going down in price from hundreds of thousands to just thousands of dollars in set up fees. In between are numerous high quality small to medium business sized web based video conferencing platforms like GoToMeeting and Intercall.
Video conferencing and calling are one of the major components behind today’s increasingly decentralized, cheaper to run and more efficient business environment.
3. Smartphones/Tablets
Smartphones and tablets are both powerful and relatively new technologies that have undergone enormous advancements during the last few years. Both essentially represent small portable computers with nearly as much processing power as full scale laptops and PCs and because of this, their usefulness as business tools goes far beyond the basic functions of each, which are calling and note taking respectively.
In the case of each kind of device, a whole host of work, communication and information management tools are made available for portable use that fits in the palm of a hand, and the organizational benefits of these tools are invaluable to entrepreneurs and business managers anywhere in the world. Phone brands such as Samsung, Apple and LG have created mobile devices that deliver, in addition to their built in or downloadable communication tools, very powerful data storage ability that entrepreneurs can use to save documents, transfer work and send projects or information out to their employees and clients.
4. Mobile Applications
We’ve already covered the power of tablets and smartphones as business tools, but what makes these machines so much more useful than they could ever be on their own is the vast marketplace in mobile applications. As soon as powerful portable computing in mobile devices was coupled with wireless web access, it became only natural that downloadable applications for all sorts of tasks and uses started being developed.
Sure enough, the online application marketplaces for the world’s two biggest mobile device operating systems, Google Android and Apple’s iOS, have both exploded. The Apple apps market currently contains close to a million downloadable applications and Android Market from Google is not far behind. Other apps downloading pages such as those belonging to Windows and Blackberry also offer thousands of little software tools that can do more different things than is possible to count.
On the go business executives and entrepreneurs can access these apps markets to download tools for numerous responsibilities such as accounting, note taking, photography needs, networking and so many others that it’s literally impossible to explain them all. Best of all, many of these apps are free and most cost less than the price of a sandwich at a café. Business organization tools have never been more diverse or more conveniently accessible in human history.
5. Social Media
The web is changing all the time and any business that has something to do with the online world had better adapt with it if it wants to stay competitive. Because of this, no modern company can ignore the impact and power of social media.
With well over 1 billion users worldwide, social media platforms have become an entire parallel internet onto themselves. The hundreds of millions who use them daily spread vast amounts of news, images and information to their friends and followers all the time. This vast digital word-of-mouth system represents an immense marketing and promotion opportunity to any company that learns how to build real human interest in its reputation and brands. The result of knowing this can lead to incredible sales success, but it first requires a company to actually involve itself in social networking.
Author Bio:
Stephan Jukic is a freelance writer who generally covers a variety of subjects relating to the latest changes in white hat SEO, mobile technology, marketing tech and digital security. He also loves to read and write about location-free business, portable business management and finance. When not busy writing or consulting on technology and digital security, he spends his days enjoying life’s adventures either in Canada or Mexico, where he spends part of the year. Connect with Stephan on LinkedIn.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Do not include more then 1 link in comment... Comment will be approved within 24 hour