Small Business Owners: Why You Need to Invest in Tech Like PDF Editors and Sales Tools Right Now

Not all small business owners in the US are keen on making tech-related upgrades to their businesses. According to a Deloitte report, 40 percent believe digital tools are irrelevant, and 38 percent believe they’re ineffective. You may be on the fence about investing your hard-earned earnings into tech yourself. 

The Fayette Chamber of Commerce is here to tell you that backing tech would be picking the right horse. In fact, doing so may well be integral to the survival of your business – not only does it save you a lot of money in the long run, but everyone else is doing it (or soon will be), and you need to, at the very least, match their efforts. 

Below, we explain how tech like sales tools and PDF editors can be extremely beneficial for your small business. We also offer four critical tech-related upgrades you should consider making right now.

What tech investments can do for your small business 

Continuing with the findings from the Deloitte report, digitally-evolved businesses enjoy several advantages over their less-evolved counterparts:

• Their employees earn two times as much revenue

• Their revenue growth quadruples

• They are three times as likely to create new jobs

• Their average employment growth rate goes up sixfold

• They are three times more likely to export services or products

The right technology saves you time, money, and employee hours. Almost every business type under the sun can benefit from digital tools. 

4 powerful tech investments 

Here are four tech-related investments you can consider making for your business: 

1. Sales and marketing tech with mobile apps and CRM software

Sales and marketing technology makes it easier for you to attract, engage with, and retain leads. There are several tech-related solutions worth exploring. Some examples are VR/AR for product demos, mobile apps for convenient communications and transactions, social selling software to leverage social media sales, and customer relationship management (CRM) software for a streamlined buyer journey.

2. Website and website security with monitored hosting and PDF editor

It’s a no-brainer but worth mentioning: every business needs a website. It allows customers to quickly research you and get a feel for your offerings before doing business with you. Enabling online transactions on your website is always a good idea. It makes life easier for customers and drums up more business.  

Cybersecurity goes hand in hand with getting a website. You need to invest in making sure your customers’ data is safe. Some ways to do so are getting secure hosting, monitoring incoming traffic, securing your infrastructure, and training employees to spot malware. Using password-protected PDFs is a good way to protect sensitive information (including  passwords) from a cyber attack. You can quickly add information or make changes to a PDF using a PDF editor online without converting it to any other format. Upload the file, make changes, and download it again. 

3. Workflow automation 

Workflow automation is all about using technology to speed up, optimize, and sometimes have tasks performed automatically in response to event triggers (like having an email service platform send out an automated acknowledgment in response to an inquiry). 

Workflow automation tools are available as standalone software products (like Integrify) and built-into apps as a feature. Some examples of the latter are project management solutions that auto-assign tasks to your employees and invoice senders that send out reminders to clients of due payments. Image API offers a list of workflow apps that are worth checking out. 

4. Cloud computing and remote work 

Cloud computing offers multiple advantages. You can use off-site computer resources to run your company software, which is cheaper and safer. You can outsource key tasks to remote IT teams. Finally, you can run various apps remotely from various devices without having to download, install, or maintain them. 

Accessing remote resources also makes remote work possible. You can offer employees remote work opportunities and flexible working hours, which promotes employee well-being, boosts their work-life balance, saves on telecommuting and office expenses, and can drive up productivity.  

Keep in mind that not all tech upgrades are worthwhile. While some are essential to have – like website security, a PDF editor, and marketing tech – some may be less so. It’s always a good idea to research your competitors to see what they’re doing and conduct an ROI analysis on any upgrade before rolling it out. 

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