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Take a look at how many businesses have and will operate in 2020, and show them as a case study to someone running a business in the 1990s. Only 30 years have elapsed, and yet everything has changed. Rarely do we send faxes. Entire offices can now run from the comfort of their own homes thanks to digital suites and remote working options. Employees are part of Slack channels or instant messaging hangouts, allowing them to converse socially and professionally in the same token.
That’s just thirty years of progress. In another thirty, things will no doubt look like Star Wars has become a reality compared to where we are now. But that’s a topic for another day. The only measure you can take to keep up with this ever-growing and innovating commercial world is to try and keep up with it. Instead of fighting against the current, we move with it, and hope it carries us in the right direction. Furthermore, when you stop fighting with the current, its amazing power becomes yours. We can view business technological progress in this manner.
But how can we stay up-to-date? With the following advice:
Adopting New Technologies
New technologies are developed all the time. Who would have thought that staff would use instant messaging apps such as Slack for corporate teams, as beforehand VoIP and other systems were the default (and best tracked) measures to use. That being said, adopting new technologies frivolously can come at a disadvantage, because it takse time and energy to implement them and use them well.
So, we need to understand that when we implement technologies, no matter how incremental, they must be fully vetted and approved. They must also be worthwhile for the custom-fit solutions your business needs – as every enterprise is different for the most part. This is where Office Technology Services, and every service they offer, can be so essential. Allowing a third-party to understand your needs and to provide you with those most comprehensive solutions can take much of the responsibility from your shoulders, and will always keep you operating at the industry standard.
Compatibilities
Staying compatible is also important. When working with newer software suites or formatting standards, it’s easy to find it difficult to share files or even work within disparate programs. Compatibilities must always be considered and worked out. Even though most modern software does its utmost to conform to other publishing or executing standards, that’s not always the rule. Anyone who works regularly in Google Docs will know the difficulty in applying perfect formatting from this file type to a Microsoft Word document, for instance, especially when you have complex layouts and other report features to consider.
Staying up to date in an ever-growing commercial world, then, must be considered ahead of time and assessed beforehand. Are your technical staff able to update their systems? Do modern patches of software break certain implements you may be using? Is the latest Windows or MacOS software version you’re being asked to update to causing ripples in your industry for breaking and having troubles with complex office utilities? It’s worth researching and asking these questions before you come to a final result, because otherwise it’s easy to fall into the trap of having issues take you unaware.
Staff Training
Staff training measures are also essential to make room for. How can staff be expected to move onto a new version of Photoshop for example, without having time to understand just what has changed, to update their plugins and to spend some time with it? In creative fields this responsibility can come around every other year, but large office-sweeping changes can take place when you change your workflow management system – or designate
Relevance In Approach
It’s important to understand if your business is relevant or not. This question can seem as instructive as the ‘how long is a piece of string’ cliche – but it’s important to figure out where your blind spots are. For instance, many more firms are starting to integrate new payment methods such as cryptocurrency options for the growing demand from this market. Figuring out another way to accept payment surely cannot be a bad thing, despite the additional regulations you have to work through.
This is the essence of approaching an audience and ensuring your own relevance. It’s not only ‘can you cater to this audience,’ but rather ‘can you cater to this audience now?’ That mindset will see you through.
With this advice, we hope you can stay up to date in an ever-changing and growing commercial world.
