3. TECH AND YOUR BUSINESS
Dematerialization
Freemium
Gamification
On Demand Workforce
Crowd Creation
Crowd Funding
Data Mining and Business Intelligence
3
4. 11 RULES OF TECH SUCCESS…
1. Invest
2. Outsource
3. Educate
4. Don’t Technologize a Bad Business Process
5. Customer & Prospect Systematic Marketing (CRM)
6. Cloud (online) Computing
7. Security
8. Mobility
9. Web Site
10.Email Marketing
11.and Social Media
4
7. INVEST IN TECHNOLOGY
Stop thinking of
technology as a pain
Stop thinking of
technology as
something dreary
Stop thinking of
technology as an
expense
7
8. 7 TECH INVESTMENT QUESTIONS
1. Can the tech I’m buying today grow with my
business
2. Can the tech connect with other technologies
3. Does the vendor provide great technology support
4. Who else is using the technology I’m buying
5. What are my future business plans – does the tech
I’m buying match
6. Is there an ecosystem of for the tech I’m buying
7. Am I the first one investing in this tech
8
10. TECH RULE # 2 – OUTSOURCE TECH
Your time is valuable
and limited
Your tech expertise is
limited
10
11. TECH RULE #2 – OUTSOURCE TECH
Your results will be crappy
Other things will suf fer
You won’t look professional
You’ll lose sales
The earth will open up and swallow you
11
12. 7 OUTSOURCE TECH QUESTIONS
1. Has the person I’m hiring helped other businesses in
my industry
2. What are the referrals of the vendor I’m working with
3. Does the vendor have a track record of success
4. Are they a startup and hungry for my business (or new)
5. Are they a big company with maturity (or where I might
not be important to them)
6. Does the vendor work well with businesses of my size
7. Do I need to know the owner
12
14. TECH RULE #3 – EDUCATE YOURSELF
Don’t be a nerd or
geek
Be an educated
business owner
Ignorance is not bliss.
It’s stupidity and slow
death
Technology is scary to
those who don’t know
Everything is hard and
confusing if you aren’t
trained or informed
14
16. TECH EDUCATION RESOURCES
Grovo.com
Free resources from your vendor
Google Help
Support.microsoft.com
SCORE, Chambers and other give many free
(and fee based) events
Hire a consultant to train you
16
17. RULE #4 - DON’T
TECHNOLOGIZE A BAD
BUSINESS PROCESS
17
18. RULE #4 – DON’T TECH A BAD BIZ PROCESS
Tech NOT the answer
for poor hiring
Tech NOT the answer
for a bad biz process
Tech NOT the answer
for poor customer
service
Tech is NOT the
answer for low
employee moral
Tech NOT the answer
for an idot boss
18
20. 5 TECH & BAD BUSINESS THOUGHTS
1. Are you speaking to someone with gray hair
(a mature business owner)
2. How would your business operate without
tech
3. Map out your businesses processes – then
layer technology
4. Hire for aptitude, character and attitude –
you can train good people to do great things
5. Appreciate the technical aptitude of your
team
20
22. RULE #5 – TREAT CUSTOMERS SPECIAL
“CRM”
Amazon.com – king of personalization
All customers are
not the same
Segment your
customers
Sell to the right
customer
Sell them at the
right time
Sell them the right
thing
22
23. “CRM”
Treat all customers
as if they were the
only one
Know what
customers want and
giving it to them
Implement Lifecycle
Marketing
23
27. RULE #6 – LEVERAGE ONLINE SOFTWARE
Faster
implementation
Grows with your
business
Easier on cash flow
Automatically
backed up
Great for virtual /
distributed teams
Automatic updates
27
29. ONLINE SERVICES
Google Apps – Microsoft Office 365
(communication and collaboration)
Asana – (Task management)
Dropbox – file sharing and synchronization
Evernote – life management (notes, etc)
Web browser add-ons
Email add-ons
Youtube
29
30. RULE #7 - SECURE
COMPUTING IS SMART
COMPUTING
30
31. RULE #7 – SECURE COMPUTING
Hackers love you love
your data
Be cautious online
Educate your staff
Have secure passwords
Backup your
information
Be wary of internal
security breaches ie
“rogue employees”
Wireless computing –
be nervous
31
34. RULE #8 – MOBILE PRODUCTIVIT Y
As productive
OUT of your
office as IN your
office
Office services
should be “out
of office
accessible”:
fax, telephone, v
oice
mail, email, file
s
34
35. MOBILE TIPS
Learn to use mobile
tools
Have the right apps on
your phone
Test a variety of mobile
devices
Have redundancy
Test before you use in
the field
Don’t be
cheap!
35
36. MOBILE 101
Right phone
Right network
(AT&T, Verizon
Wireless, Tmobile, etc
)
Right apps
Right accessories
Right mobile devices
(tablet, notebook)
36
39. RULE #9 – UPGRADE YOUR WEB SITE
Your web site is YOU
Old web sites scream “Don’t buy from me”’
Your web site should sell for you 24/7
Great design matters (ie Steve Jobs)
Superfluous design sucks, wastes time and is
distracting
Build in social features
RESOURCE: www.10websitemusts.com
39
40. DIY VS WEB DESIGNER
Low cost
Quick
“Easy”
Good enough for
most
Larger investment
Takes time
Custom made
Your time can be on
something else
Expertly done
40
41. DIY WEB DESIGN SERVICES
Wix
Squarespace
OnePager
Jimdo
Intuit web sites
41
46. FOUR SIMPLE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS
1.
2.
3.
4.
Frequent
Relevant
Engaging
Analytics
46
47. RULE #11 – SOCIAL MEDIA IS NO JOKE
Your customers and
your customer’s
mothers are social
Create a simple
strategy
Educate employees
(The wrong Tweet
could get someone
fired or worse)
Each social media
network is unique
47
48. SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT EVERY THING
Social media is not
everything.
“Old fashioned”
marketing works
Be wary of social
media consultants
48
49. 11 RULES OF TECH SUCCESS…
1. Invest
2. Outsource
3. Educate
4. Don’t Technologize a Bad Business Process
5. Customer Marketing
6. Cloud (online) Computing
7. Security
8. Mobility
9. Web Site
10. Email Marketing
11. Social Media
49