There is an interesting article in Accounting Today – Will You Innovate or Evaporate?.    The gist of the article is that services firms (particularly referring to accounting firms, of course, but I think this applies more broadly) ought to lift their heads from their practices from time to time to see what is out there – what different tools or techniques from other industries could be applied to a practice to make it better.  I am sure the author was thinking more broadly but here I’ll address how this applies to technology.

The point the author makes in this article is that you can innovate by making small changes and weaving them into the firm’s culture and DNA.  This makes absolute sense when talking about adding technology changes – why take on a huge implementation, upgrade or overhaul when a small change might make a big difference?  Or if you are making a big change, just make one, take your time, and make it right.  Take the time and, yes, spend the money, to make sure the implementation and roll out is smooth.

What are some examples of small changes?  You can start emailing invoices.  You can start scanning and filing documents online.

What are some larger innovations that, when done carefully, might have a big payoff?  You move from a local file server to cloud based storage (with the proper security level of course) so that your staff can access data from anywhere and from (almost) any device?   You could give your clients access to their files and information (including billing information) online.  Maybe they could even actually pay their bills and make appointments online.

What technology innovations has your business made lately?

  by  nyoin

  by  Yury Cortés

In the past few years there has been a proliferation of specialized business applications for every kind of business. Lawyers, accountants, spa owners, music teachers, golf courses – all these businesses have a variety of niche software applications built just for them.  Have a camel farm?  I bet someone somewhere has built “camel farm technology in a box” just for you.  This is a great development – if you are starting a new business there are specialized tools just for you and most of them are cloud-based and inexpensive.  These days, if you can think of it, someone has built it.  Just for you.

What is the downside?  First, they try to be all things to your niche market.  You may end up with functionality you don’t need and when you get stuff you don’t want it can make using the rest difficult or at least confusing.  Second, because you using capabilities that everyone else in your business is using, you are just “keeping up”, not using technology to give you a competitive edge.  Third, to some extent you are buying into a certain business model, one that may not be what you had in mind.

And then there is the ugly – some things these applications do very very well but some are just awful.  Areas where I see consistent poor functionality are CRM, websites, integration and reporting.  For example, I belong to two clubs that use “club” software – applications are are expressly built to support membership clubs.  They use different vendors but they both have the same problems:

• They both keep member databases but they are rigid and clunky and don’t have features a lot of clubs would find in a simple CRM tool like tagging, keeping track of correspondence and notes or social integration.
• The both allow the clubs to create websites but they are confusing, hard to use and frankly create butt ugly websites.
• There is no integration or easy way to get your data out. For example, you can’t easily integrate your member list with something like MailChimp.
• The reporting is canned – as long as you want to ask the question they have a report for you are in good shape.  If not…well, just don’t ask that question.

Earlier this week there was an article on SmallBizTechnology.com about how the biggest problem small businesses have in using technology is lack of education.  I absolutely agree with the sentiment – who has time to learn about technology when they have a business to run?  In the article Ramon Ray recommended spending an hour or two a week learning about technology.  From there, however, he talked a lot about technology that boosts a businesses online presence – Facebook, blogging, Twitter and local search.  These are all important but there is so much more!

So what else should a small business owner educate themselves about?  There are so many topics that it can seem like a maze but if you take a look at this list you can concentrate on a few topics at a time:

• How can you make things easier for your customer?  (easy online access to content and services)
• How can you make things easier for your staff? (remote access, simple processes, collaboration tools)
• How can you touch more prospects, close more sales and increase revenue? (CRM, email newsletters)
• How can you streamline your internal processes and maybe save money? (better integration, fewer but more powerful systems, remote hosting, cloud services)
• How can you get a better handle on your business? (reporting, analytics)

So here is a short round-up of good sources for technology information – these are examples but they should give you somewhere to start:

• online technology magazines and blogs like smallbiztechnology.com and smallbusinesscomputing.com.  I also like Laurie McCabe’s blog.
• industry specific online sources like the Law Technology News section of Law.com or Techtips on TheProgressiveAccountant.com
• online communities like American Express Open and Biznik.com
• local blogs like atlantasmall.biz

What technology topics would you like to know more about?  Where do you go to get your technical education?