In a previous blog post, we outlined three ways that technology drives business success: better communication, better inventory management and better knowledge management.  Attaching hard numbers to the benefit is much more difficult – that would require a large amount of research, covering thousands of small businesses.

Fortunately, Deloitte has just finished such a study.  In the study, they surveyed 2,000 companies on their level of technology usage.  The companies that were most digitally advanced performed far better than their peers – earning twice as much revenue per employee and four times as much year-over-year revenue growth.

When Deloitte asked small businesses what was driving their use of technology, the most-cited factors were related to customer interaction – greater market reach, better brand promotion and higher revenues.  But when Deloitte actually looked at internal factors, they found that companies heavily using technology were twice as likely to have employees that work together on a regular basis, and that their employees were happier.

The critical point here is that technology isn’t just about sales and marketing, although it can definitely help with that.  Technology should be helping all of your employees to be more productive – to work together, to have easier access to information, to design new products and services more quickly.  But in order to do that, you have to have more than just the right technology – you have to have a business strategy that’s built around using that technology to its full potential, and an employee training plan that shows employees how to best use that technology.

Small businesses that achieve all of this can draw a line between technology upgrades and better business results. If that’s been difficult for your company to do in the past, it might be time to talk to a different technology provider.

To learn how WingSwept helps businesses use technology to achieve tangible business results, call us at 919-779-0954 or email us at Team_WingSwept@WingSwept.com.