The cornerstone of any successful enterprise is a carefully crafted business plan that clearly sets out the company’s short, medium and long term goals. However, whilst it is crucial to get all the big business decisions right, it’s just as important to concentrate on the finer details too and consider how exactly these goals will be achieved. For most 21st century businesses, technology can play an extremely important role in terms of streamlining operations and cutting back on needless costs and resources. Indeed, all a small company needs to succeed in the modern day business world is a talented individual with a bundle of good ideas and a networked computer. And because of this, many entrepreneurs launch their first business from home, given that the reduced overhead costs mean they can offer their services at significantly reduced prices compared to that of their competitors. This can be a very effective tactic in clinching those first few lucrative deals that can produce the capital to grow and become a true force to be reckoned with. Furthermore, with the advent of the Internet era, there is actually very little reason to have premises at all, even when the company starts to grow. Files can be sent digitally and stored digitally on a remote server that can be accessed by every employee in the company, whilst groupware applications enable people to collaborate on projects and share information as though they were in the same physical working environment. Of course, home-based businesses will often only have so much mileage and there will inevitably come a time when it’s simply too big to manage remotely. However, this shouldn’t mean that the lean, mean business machine model of home-based working should be completely discarded once that first office lease is signed. The secret to running an agile business is keeping overheads to a minimum and cutting out any unnecessary waste. Digital storage, email and groupware applications will all still play an integral part in keeping the company streamlined, and there’s a whole host of other applications that can be introduced too. Rather than spending valuable time in transit visiting a client, web conferencing is a perfectly viable alternative, offering a platform to chat, deliver presentations and negotiate deals. And even businesses that are still at the home-working stage, web conferencing is a fantastic way of creating a virtual meeting environment for colleagues to brainstorm ideas and collaborate on projects. So it’s clear that technology can play a crucial role in helping businesses to grow and develop into a major force within their industry. Web applications and a handful of networked computers are all that’s needed to create a slick virtual office environment, bringing countless benefits to companies of all sizes.
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