Are you using technology as a strategic asset?

Especially in a world changed by a pandemic, businesses need to be able to meet needs where they are and when they emerge.

One of our customers has aggressive growth goals. However, they have been struggling to overcome two limiting factors.

First, how can they expand geographically without investing in “brick and mortar”? Second, servicing more clients requires additional legal and accounting experts; these folks are in limited supply these days.

The solution? Virtual offices.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, our customer asked us to move more than 120 employees in six locations (some outside of Oklahoma) to work-from-home status. They were surprised, and pleased, that the transition was practically seamless due to technology that is readily available.

Imagine how this experience opened their eyes to the opportunity to expand their geographic footprint with a minimum investment. Now, instead of having to lease or buy office space in their target expansion areas, they can hire employees locally, have them work from home and meet with prospects and customers either virtually, or when possible, at the prospect’s/customer’s office, home or at some other mutually convenient place. Furthermore, our customer can recruit employees from almost anywhere and not require relocation. They can expand their “reach” for both customers and employees without having to invest in real estate, commit to a lease, or incur relocation expenses. 

This is but one example of how technology can be used to grow your business or make it more profitable. Let’s say you currently have an email server and from time to time experience downtime on that server. When that happens your employees may be unproductive until the server is restored to service. With Microsoft 365, you can have access to email from anywhere there is an Internet connection available. Even if you are willing to tolerate email server downtime, the server will eventually have to be replaced; a significant investment that can be avoided by moving to a service such as Microsoft 365. 

Have you ever been away from the office and wanted to be able to access files from your phone?  Imagine being able to access an Excel spreadsheet or Word document in order to respond to a customer need or to answer a prospect’s question on the spot. Imagine being able to collaborate on an important proposal with a colleague through your phone; each of you being able to review the other’s changes on the fly. M365 enables Microsoft Office applications across all types of devices; pcs, tablets and phones. M365 also provides Microsoft Teams, a powerful tool for coordinating action plans and enabling employee collaboration to implement business strategies.  

Especially in a world changed by a pandemic, businesses need to be able to meet needs where they are and when they emerge. Technology can help you be nimble so you can beat the competition in responding to and adapting to new opportunities and challenges. Beyond M365, there are other many other cloud services, that are inherently scalable. As your workforce expands or contacts your technology costs are more variable and your reaction time is shortened greatly. Cloud services provide significantly better security; giving you the peace of mind to make critical business data available when and where it is needed to respond to strategic opportunities. 

Ask your IT advisor how you can make IT a valuable part of your strategic plan. Others are doing it, why not you? 

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About Davis Merrey

