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I have been fortunate to have spent over 10 years of my career serving the small business industry. One thing I've consistently seen over the years is that small businesses grow, whether it's a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Missouri, an e-commerce business based in Virginia, or a hair salon in Texas. To thrive, you need to: Owners must strategically invest in tools and technology that will help them succeed.
This is more than just ordering a laptop online or setting up your company website for all your business transactions. However, it's a good place to start. The right tools will strengthen your business and take it to the next level of growth while making the owner's life easier and more manageable.
Here are three areas business owners should consider investing in to transform their operations and drive growth.
Related: A Guide to Managing Money and Investments for Small Business Owners
1. Unleash the power of AI and automation
Artificial intelligence is the hot new buzzword and the technology trend generating the most excitement regarding its potential use cases, especially as more people experiment with generative AI like ChatGPT.
For time-strapped business owners, the opportunity to automate tedious and time-consuming tasks is very appealing. In fact, our recent research shows that nearly all small business owners are using AI for everything from expense management (69%) to invoicing (68%) to completing payroll (51%). are keen on automating business tasks with the help of. They look forward to offloading some of these tedious but important tasks to technology solutions.
We recommend evaluating the key areas of your business operations that are important to your cash flow, such as monthly invoicing. Finding ways to improve efficiency by automating repetitive tasks can save you time and money each month, further increasing your overall benefits.
The potential time savings of AI are significant, with 43% of business owners saying they would spend more time building customer relationships and 36% saying they would use the extra time to develop more products and services. The real power of AI is in creating the ability to focus on building relationships, creating new services, and innovating. The human touch remains essential to success in this field.
2. Manage the employee experience
Another area where technology can make a big difference is in the complex processes of employee onboarding, management, and payroll. Personal relationships between business owners and employees are of course important, but by investing upfront in a human capital management (HCM) software solution, business owners can greatly simplify some day-to-day tasks. .
Payroll calculation for hourly workers, schedule management, and appropriate tax deductions are all things that HCM solutions can effectively ease the burden on business owners. This saves you a lot of time (similar to the monthly billing example above, these tasks are repeated consistently, making the overall benefit even greater). It also provides greater peace of mind, as tax compliance is a difficult area for many business owners to approach with confidence. Finally, it also benefits employees by providing greater transparency and access to paystubs and other important financial documents.
Related: 3 Reasons It's Never Too Early to Invest in HR
3. Reach new and existing customers with innovative marketing
According to our recent research, half of small business owners agree that customer retention is one of the most important business metrics for determining business success. Businesses need customers to buy their products and services, but 20% of businesses say customer acquisition is the biggest obstacle to growth, second only to rising inflation costs.
Automation tools can solve both of these challenges by making managing your company's email and social media marketing faster and more efficient. Whether it's leveraging email marketing solutions to reach new and existing customers or experimenting with paid advertising on social media platforms, more and more businesses are taking the guesswork out of business owners' marketing and targeting their target audience. We're enabling you to better target, reach, and communicate. . Rather than reinventing the wheel every time they send out a mass advertisement or email, businesses can now take advantage of the templates, insights, and best practices available through these platforms. Additionally, the metrics and insights provided on the backend help businesses test and learn to see what resonates with their audience and truly makes a difference.
Our research found that four in five small business owners plan to invest in digital tools this year. This is great news for all of us who love and support small businesses, as it will definitely help many businesses continue to grow and reach new goals. For entrepreneurs who are ready to invest in their brand's future but don't know where to start, learn how AI and automation capabilities and tools can help streamline your workforce management experience, customer communications, and marketing. We recommend that you consider. With the help of technology and tools, the sky is the limit for small businesses everywhere.
