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You already know that these are uncertain economic times...especially for small & medium sized businesses. I won't repeat the obvious facts, they've been well covered in the media.
The more useful question is: what can you do about it?
While journalists sell newspapers by wallowing in bad news, the media hasn't exactly been forthcoming with practical ideas to help smaller businesses - such as yours - survive and thrive during an economic slowdown.
Let's take a more positive approach and look at how your I.T. strategy - that's right, the way you handle computer systems and software for your business - can help your business to prosper during these difficult times.
Here are some ideas you can put in place quickly:
- Preserve your cash
- Cut your I.T. costs
- Minimise your labour costs
- Stay nimble - be ready to downsize or grow
- Market yourself more than ever before
- Stay on top of your sales pipeline
Let's look at each one in a little more detail:
Preserve your cash
When business conditions are uncertain, it's wise to keep as much cash on hand as you can. That means renting, not buying, whenever you can - especially large capital cost items like computer servers, software and networks. Look for options that allow you to only pay for what you use, preferably on a month-by-month basis without any long-term contracts or commitments.
Cut your I.T. costs
Right now you are probably looking at all your costs to trim wherever you can, and I.T. should be no exception. Small and medium sized businesses can make substantial savings by outsourcing their I.T. - if you can find the right service provider. If your business has between 3 and 20 employees, you can expect total cost savings of 25% to 65% through successful outsourcing.
Minimise your labour costs
People are the biggest single cost for most businesses, so it makes sense get the maximum out of your investment:
Automate the repetitive processes in your business wherever you can - if you can do without even one employee as a result you will usually make a return on your investment quickly.
Maximise the productivity of your employees by ensuring they have information at their fingertips: shared customer database, shared email folders and a company Intranet are some of the low-cost or no-cost technology tools that will help your team to be effective.
Consider hiring from different labour pools when you are looking for employees. If a job in your business can be done by a stay-at-home mother or someone working from a remote or regional area, then your total cost of employing that person will be less than a similar-skilled employee who lives near your business and comes in to the office each day. Effective remote access technology is needed for your employees to be productive from outside the office.
Stay nimble - be ready to downsize or grow
In an extended downturn you may need to downsize in order to survive, but once the economy picks up (as it inevitably will) you'll want to be prepared for growth to take full advantage of new opportunities. For your I.T. system to play its part, you need to be able to quickly scale down the monthly costs as you downsize (you may not need to downsize, but it's always safe to have the option available); and you also need the option to ramp up quickly when you're ready to hire again and expand. Flexibility is the key.
Market yourself more than ever before
Now is not the time to slash your marketing, though it is the time to make your marketing as targeted and effective as possible. Be sure to contact your customers regularly - they may need to be reassured that you're still around to meet their needs and you want to stay front-of-mind when they're ready to purchase next. The lowest cost, most direct way to contact your customers is via email - not a complete replacement for other methods, but if you aren't using email then you're not in the game these days.
A lot of smart marketing money is shifting to online strategies - Internet marketing is very responsive and measurable, so it's much easier to test, measure and optimise than with traditional media. The best online marketing strategies are often performance-based approaches - such as pay-per-click or affiliate programs - where you pay only for results, much like having an army of commission-only sales reps working for you.
Stay on top of your sales pipeline
When every dollar counts, that means you want to close every sale that you can. Any missed revenue opportunity hurts when business is slow. With an effective customer database you can track every lead or enquiry through to completion, ensuring that your team has followed up every opportunity and brought in every deal they could. You can track your sales metrics in real time, spot trends as they develop, then adjust your pricing or offer quickly to maximise conversion rates.
How we can make this happen for you
Perhaps by now you're thinking that your current I.T. systems - and your current I.T. consultants - just can't deliver on the ideas above? You're right.
Large companies have entire I.T. departments on hand to implement business strategies using technology. However the do-it-yourself (or own-it-yourself) approach just doesn't scale down to suit small and medium-sized businesses at all well, and that's why almost no SMB owners are satisfied with their results from technology:
- The entry costs are often too high - if you only need 10% of a server to meet your needs, then you end up buying (and spending) 10 times more than you wanted.
- If you need access to technical expertise - the smartest guys aren't available to you, or any small business owner for that matter. The experts want to work on big systems and earn big bucks , which they can only do by working at big companies. Small businesses can't offer them interesting work or competitive incomes, so they stay away.
So, what's the answer. It's time for a new approach: I.T. on Tap.
This new approach provides your small/medium business with access to sophisticated, high-end I.T. systems, at an affordable "small business" price.
The I.T. on Tap service:
- is pay-for-use only – no up front capital investment in hardware, software or consultants is required
- is easy to use – no steep learning curve or need to retrain your employees
- has no contracts / no "lock in" – if you're unhappy with the service, you can leave at any time
- includes technical support – help is only a phone call or an email away when you need it
- handles all the vital "housekeeping chores" for you – no need to think about backups, virus scanning, software upgrades etc - ever again!
- is fixed-price – no more unexpected bills from your computer consultant for things you didn't even know you needed
- provides strong security – your customer database and other information is much safer, from insider theft as well as from external threats
- is lower cost than doing it yourself – no need for I.T. staff on your payroll or consultants on retainer, typical savings of 25% to 65%
- enables business growth – add new employees at the click of a button, open new offices without spending a cent on I.T. setup
....and, most importantly, I.T. on Tap:
- includes powerful systems – enabling you to market, sell and service customers
more effectively, reliably, efficiently and faster than before,
increasing revenue and the profitability of your business as a result.
How does it work?
Although I.T. on Tap is extremely easy to use, it's a new concept to most small/medium business owners - based on technology that you probably haven't seen before.
We've found that most people don't really understand the I.T. on Tap concept - how it works and what it can do for your business - until they watch a demonstration.
Once you see the system in action, I promise the light bulb will go on, the pieces will fall into place and you'll immediately see the potential for your own business. A 20 minute web-based demonstration, in the comfort of your own home or office, is all it will take.
What Our Clients Say
“I.T. on Tap has reduced the cost of operating I.T. and we haven’t had to worry about any unforseen costs. With one fixed payment per month and 100% reliability, the only I.T. hassle we have these days is remembering login details.
We have also gained a real competitive edge through the ability to
service our customers from any location and offer assurance about the
security of personal information.”
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“We
were thinking of investing in a software system that would allow us to
digitally keep all these records but the cost was restrictive and the
process very difficult. With I.T. on Tap all our data is secured in one
place and everyone accesses it from one point. It means all staff share
the same information and are able to work from anywhere - at home, from
a cafe or overseas - and there is no need to employ IT personnel.”
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"The I.T. on Tap
service has really boosted our productivity and efficiency. It's low
cost and very easy to use from the office, home or on the road - and
its performance is always fast. We're free of the hassle of hiring I.T.
consultants, and we've avoided the cost of having an in-house I.T.
manager.
I'd highly recommend it to any small business. Just knowing that
our I.T. needs are being taken care of allows me to focus on growing
the business."
Karen Corban, Director
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“As a small business we could not afford the huge I.T. bills for servers, desktops, software and worse – maintenance. As an owner, I also couldn’t afford the constant headache of worrying about security and system failures.
I.T. on Tap has allowed me to completely hand over I.T. and never have
to think about it beyond how I can use some of the tools to grow my
business. In fact, I was able to cut costs and reduce the need for part time or contracted resources altogether.”
Linda Masters, Marketing Director
StockCourse (3 employees) |
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"I wish I'd seen this before I spent $8,000 on servers and I.T. consultants for my 3-person business."
Andrea, recruitment company |
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"I'm
impressed that you're giving your clients a CRM (Customer Relationship
Management) system for free! Because of my background in marketing, I
know just how powerful CRM is. Every small business needs this."
Angela, marketing consultant |
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"One
of our key employees just had a baby, after 6 years with the firm.
Thanks to I.T. on Tap, she was able to start working part time from
home within a couple of weeks - and she's just as productive as if she
was in the office. Without that capability she'd have been off work for
months, and we can't afford to have that happen."
Jason, accounting firm |
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"I.T.
on Tap is key to our franchising strategy - it gives us the means to
provide sophisticated, turnkey software systems to our franchisees, and
do so easily and cost effectively. We'd still be months away from this
point in our franchising roll-out without it. And it's so easy to use,
the franchisees love it too."
Hassan, financial services franchisor |
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"I
love the fact that you always offer choices, including open source
software options. You could easily lock your customers in to a single,
high cost product, but instead you always look for alternatives that
will save my clients money. That means a lot to me, I can recommend
your service wholeheartedly."
Sasha, systems consultant to small businesses |
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"People,
mostly I.T. consultants, have suggested we go back to owning our own
servers and managing our I.T. ourselves - but I'm not interested. Our
systems never ran as smoothly then as they do on I.T. on Tap, costs are
lower and our staff productivity (in billing hours) is higher. There's
no way I'd go back."
John, law firm |
Take the next step
Complete the form below, tell us a bit about yourself and your business, then we'll be in touch with an invitation to join one of our regularly-scheduled "webinar" demonstrations of the I.T. on Tap service.
We look forward to helping your business survive and thrive, no matter what happens to the economy - let's talk soon!
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