Getting Started Overview
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Overview: Technology
One of the great ironies of business: huge companies create technology that makes it easier for small companies to compete. Imagine back in the day of typewriters, receptionists, and no email or Internet, how much money it took for a small company to look impressive, let alone be impressive. In many businesses, it would have been impossible to launch without some kind of staff. It required the money needed to print up a brochure and other marketing materials to convince people you were for real, for having someone to answer the phones and type letters. It required having an accountant because there was no software to automate printing invoices and cutting checks.
Today, the Internet, PDFs, electronic decks (Power Point or other presentation software), contact management or CRM (customer relationship management) software, accounting software, and mobile technology actually give small businesses an advantage over big organizations. It's much easier for a small organization to adopt the latest technologies than for a large organization with tens of thousands of employees. You'll often find young small companies far in advance of mature Fortune 500 companies in terms of presentation equipment in their conference rooms, use of contact management or CRM software.
The technology can make you look impressive in your sales and marketing; help you manage your systems and processes; keep track of every business opportunity and customer, automate many accounting functions; enable you to respond immediately and 24/7 to a customer need or desire, all at a cost almost any start-up can afford. All you need is a PC or Mac; Internet access; voice mail, a cellphone, and wireless adapter for a laptop, or a Blackberry or other device, and in most cases no more than $1,000 in software. Today, even a basic copier machine is available to most young companies. Anything that saves you time, money, improves responsiveness to customers, and makes your organization look impressive in a way that builds credibility should be considered, given most technology requires relatively little cash.
Caution: Don't waste time using technology to look cool, unless you feel it's necessary in your market. You should approach this as you would any other business decision, strategically: What do you hope to accomplish with your investment: how will it save time, reduce costs, improve customer responsiveness, or make your organization look credible?
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