Information technology has become an essential part of work, according to the larger business community. For about three decades, IT has become increasingly integrated with the way businesses work, and the changes in the last decade alone have been – in many ways – exponential.
We reached out to some companies to discuss the different ways in which IT has transformed business practices. One of the companies that got back to us was TechQuarters – a company that focuses primarily on IT support and managed IT services London businesses have been relying on for over a decade. According to them, there is really no way of listing all the different ways that IT can support an organisation, but that there were a number of common goals around technology that they have worked with clients to achieve.
How Does IT Bolster Business?
Over the past few years, technology has transformed the way in which businesses get things done, and the way the structure of businesses look. For example, a typical business used to look like an office full of workers – all the workers that were in the business, to be more precise – using computers at their desks, and most likely an array of servers that supported their intranet, databases, etc.
Whereas nowadays, businesses can look like all sorts of things – some don’t have offices; others have offices but no servers, and everyone is using laptops, tablets, and phones. According to TechQuarters, solutions like cloud computing, and the general improvement of computers, wireless technologies, and more, have meant that businesses have more options on how they work. But what are some examples of how IT supports, improves, or changes the way businesses perform?
Below are five examples of the way IT bolsters business…
- Flexible Work
Working flexibly has been one of the biggest things that IT has helped businesses with in recent years. This is mainly because the impact of Covid-19 forced most of the global population to start socially distancing; and in order to continue working, this meant being more flexible about where we worked. Luckily, technology enables this quite easily. First and foremost, laptops and other portable devices are incredibly common these days. The next challenge was ensuring employees has access to their files and apps – but cloud computing has also made this very easy. Finally, the issue of how employees communicate with one another needed to be addressed; but with solutions like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and other video calling platforms, this issue was also solved.
- Business Productivity
With business accelerating at the rate that it does, it is important for organisations to operate as efficiently and productively as possible. This means making sure the employee’s time is being spent on the right tasks and activities, and ensuring that time isn’t being wasted. There are many ways in which information technology facilitates these things. For example, task and process automation are common solutions for many organisations; this is where manual and/or repetitive tasks are delegated to software, because the software will be able to complete it much more quickly and efficiently. This frees up staff time, and means that more can be done in the same amount of time.
- Customer Service
The acceleration of business means that customers to purchase products and access services quicker than ever; this has meant that clients – whether they are consumers or other businesses – expect better customer support services than ever before. Thankfully, this is yet another way in which technology can help businesses. For example, TechQuarters provide IT support Essex businesses, London businesses, and businesses all around the UK rely on; as a remote businesses themselves, it is of the utmost importance that their customer service is top-notch – and to ensure this, they rely on technologies like unified communications, cloud computing and storage, and specialised software (like FreshDesk) to ensure that they are delivering a good remote customer service. Other ways in which technology fuels customer service is with solutions like Chatbots, which businesses use on their websites.
