I’m not strong in technology but my customers demand a technologically rich experience when working with my business.

What can I do to improve this?

Actually, as daunting as this new technology era might feel to you, it is usually the easiest part of your business to transform. The reason is that there are established paths that have already peen paved for you and your involvement is reduced to gaining a little understanding of your options so that you can make an educated decision, and then partnering with a reputable team to implement and manage the technology and solutions for you.

The other reason this should not frighten you is that virtually all technology transformations come with a proven and tested return on your investment. An established technology organization will be well equipped to present this to you, offer alternatives tailored to your specific business model and be able to manage and operate your systems within the framework, cost and revenue impact model they projected at the onset.

So where do companies often fall behind when it comes to offering an effective user experience, one which your customers are now expecting? The ones which come to the surface most often are:

Mobility – consumers look to their mobile devices as a “third hand” with which they want to engage with you. And this extends to on-premise, while they’re in your facility, as well as remote interactions. Many consumers will run a search for things they’re looking to accomplish, buy or resolve before engaging with you and they will do it through their mobile device.

Web and Social Media – believe it or not, but in large part social media defines your brand. You must be omni-present on many channels concurrently in order to draw in potential customers and keep the ones you already have. And your activities across these channels must be frequent enough to keep you on the forefront of you customers thoughts when their intentions are about to translate to actions.

Transaction Technology – this is the final and most important part of you customer engagement, because this is where your client pays for your product or service. This phase has to be enabled with modern transaction utilities such as smart POS for storefronts, including mobile payments, where you can not only efficiently complete the transaction but also capture user information for later marketing. For service-oriented businesses, the ability to transact via a smartly designed payment portal, with the customer having access to multiple payment choices (ACH, credit card, Paypal) and which offer the customer immediate transaction details such as statement, accounting of discount coupons, etc.

Security – This may be last on this list but is by far the most important aspect of winning new and retaining existing customers. If you fail at this, or even create the impression that you don’t have it handled, customer will sense that vulnerability and move their business elsewhere. Security is multifaceted and includes both physical and electronic. Are your POS stations under lock when the business is closed? Are your accounting files or any other electronic data containing customer information properly secured from prying eyes or malicious intruders. A good partner specializing in security in your specific line of business will expose any threats you need to address and help you drive corrective actions.

These are just a few examples of things you as an owner should be thinking about and where you should rely on a qualified partner to help you develop a strategy on your journey to growth and improved performance. If you feel like there is work to be done in your business to enable contemporary technology and improve your customers’ experience, please come talk to us. We will dive deep into your operating model and come up with a strategy to help you improve your technology capabilities and, by so doing, help you accelerate your business.