How technology saved my business

It’s no secret that most businesses rely on technology (the Internet in particular) heavily in this modern world. Everyone is mobile and so is their work. You only have to watch what happens when there’s a blackout to see how dependent many businesses are: doors close, shutters go down, owners can’t receive calls or payments – it’s chaos!

Despite being a matter of convenience, technology is also the reason why so many businesses exist today. Without the Internet, emails, mobile phones or computers, there are many businesses that simply would not be operating anymore.

When I was starting out in business, it wasn’t feasible to spend loads of money on things that weren’t going to give us a good return; we needed something both reliable and cheap. This is where technology really gave us a helping hand.

Asana

We may have been small but we were mighty and we just needed something that would help us to function at our absolute best. Asana was the answer to all our project management issues. It allows us to function more efficiently and it enables smooth workflow within our team – being a small team was no barrier to being a productive, powerhouse team with Asana.

Quickbooks Online

Keeping money in order and making sure everything is above board is extremely important, so we use Quickbooks Online. It helps us to outsource elements of our accounting overseas, while keeping those really important accounting jobs in-house. We needed to be able to have multiple people working simultaneously and Quickbooks Online was the key; there’s no disconnect or confusion because it’s all done on the online program, rather than a desktop app. Quickbooks Online also gives us an incredible amount of information, control and transparency into our business, with reporting dashboards and other reporting tools.

Upwork

Upwork allows us to utilise people – the right people – all over the world. Usually outsourcing work to people you don’t know can be full of anxiety – after all, you don’t want to be ripped off if they don’t deliver. Upwork has plenty of systems in place so you can utilise the right people with confidence. You can run your whole overseas workforce with ease – it’s a real game changer.

Google

With a comprehensive collection of applications, Google has changed the way that small businesses work. Anyone can have access to Google Apps – for free! This makes sharing files with clients easy, as well as improving communication and workflow within your business. It doesn’t matter where you are, as long as you have an Internet connection, you can access Google Apps.

With increased flexibility, accessibility and efficiency, these apps help our business run smoothly and give us the means to go above and beyond for our clients – giving them the kind of service they might expect from a well-established business.

Now that we’ve grown to be more established, this kind of technology allows us to keep operating at the same level we always have, while incorporating the new things we learn along the way. We’re consistent with our service and our communication, always leaving our clients satisfied.

Without leveraging technology I would never have been able to grow my business like I did – we might not even be in business today, so I think it’s very fair to say that technology HAS saved our business.

Matt Alderton, www.b-x.com.au, Founder, Alderton Enterprises and author of “Business for Life”