In this day of the digital age, are you still leafing through physical paper files to get what you need? Probably not, but you might still be unaware of just how advanced modern technology has gotten. It has gotten to the point that the routine and tedious everyday tasks that come with running a business can be vastly reduced, become a lot easier, or can be outright automated. Meanwhile, bigger aspects that need human attention can be made a lot simpler with the help of technology. If you are interested in how you can apply a lot of these advancements of the digital age to your business, read on for our list of the best options.
Cleaning
If your business has premises on it that is open to the public, no doubt cleaning will be the height of importance right now. Industries across the board have been retrained on “deep cleaning” in the name of keeping potential airborne viral germs out of restaurants, dentists, doctors’ offices, schools and universities and any other public space.
But surface cleaning can only do so much, as we all well know. Nowadays, airborne germs are the problem, and you can’t exactly go spraying bleach into the air and hope that does the trick.
Instead, you should invest in an industrial or commercial air purifier. Using UV-C light technology it can sanitize the air in the room, destroying any germs that may emit from the breath of visitors. Portable air purifiers are popular at the moment due to the fact that you can use them in any industry for an affordable price.
The best ones use very little energy to work so you won’t be adding to your carbon footprint, and they will also improve the cleanliness of the surfaces nearby, cutting down on the cleaning.
Fraud protections
The unfortunate reality of selling products is that there are people out there that are looking to take advantage of company policies for their own gain. Even more so if you are selling items online. People are known to, for example, wear a clothing item once for the function they need and then return it, but that is only the most basic of scams. There are also concepts like reshipping, which fraudsters use to cover their tracks, but is also an important aspect of customer satisfaction.
And if you, as a business, were to ignore the problem, you’re likely to see your revenue and the growth of your business suffer as a result.
Using Riskified will give you a protective barrier against fraud. With their online platform to help manage disputes against customers, you can differentiate between genuine customers with a problem and bad actors looking to profit. They offer frictionless dispute management so that you can reduce your operating costs and mitigate fraud.
With the use of Riskified you will see your reviews go up due to happy customers getting their problems resolved quickly, as well as your business growing, aiding your revenue.
Contactless payments
The reason we need to clean more is also the reason we have finally embraced contactless payment methods. Once upon a time, only the most high-street of stores with cash to spare were investing in contactless payment technology, and now even your local newsagents are posting signs that say “no cash accepted”. But being the cleaner option, by allowing people to avoid carrying germ-infested notes and coins in their pockets, is only the tip of the iceberg for contactless payment.
With the Christmas rush coming up, it’s obvious staff and customers will be very grateful for anything that speeds up the queues in the stores. Your sales will go through quicker as your customers simply tap their card or phone and are sent on their way.
On top of that, there is a lot more security in contactless payment. The tech involves encryption so that your money is safe as the transaction is occurring, and any disputes will be quickly resolved with an automatic paper trail recorded.
Contactless payment machines are becoming far more affordable too. If you are still looking at the retail stores and thinking “Well it’s no skin off their nose”, take another look at contactless payment machines. Some of them start at around $30.
Cloud storage
We may have joked about leafing through paper files, but it is an important part of staying organized as a business to keep a copy of everything. Every transaction, every contract, etc. all need to be recorded and stored for any number of reasons, usually with the term “legal” involved.
But that doesn’t mean you have to keep filing cabinets on top of filing cabinets. Everything from administrative offices to hospitals is embracing the cloud storage. Through any device with an internet connection, you can access your stored files, which are kept online in a “cloud” data storage. You will find everything a lot faster with the storage allowing anyone with the password and an internet connection to go in and access the files they need.
