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It’s no secret that the Internet has spawned many different ways to make companies more productive. But, have you ever noticed that some firms still prefer to do things the “old fashioned way”? For example, not using the Web to make bank payments online or only dealing with customers on the phone or by letter.
Today’s businesses haven’t any choice but to embrace the Internet. Are you not a tech-centric company? If so, here are a few examples to show you how your competitors are using the power of the Web to run their firms!
E-Commerce
In case you didn’t know, e-commerce refers to the practice of taking orders from customers on a website. The entire order process gets carried out online, including payment. All you need to do is ship their goods out and “mark” the order as completed.
The thing about e-commerce is that it’s a big industry. In fact, Forbes say it’ll be worth around $6.7 TRILLION by 2020! It’s quite easy to set up an online store these days, even for those that are averse to using modern technology. All kinds of people from one-man bands to global corporations sell through their websites.
VoIP (Voice over IP)
More businesses are making the switch from physical to “virtual” phone lines. In a conventional office phone setup, you would have a PBX or Private Branch Exchange system. You pay the phone company lots of money for the use of those incoming lines. And then you have to pay even more money for the equipment to use them all!
With VoIP, you only use your Internet connection. Advanced features would get taken care of by a network “appliance” like the Mitel 3300. Even with extra hardware, you’re still paying a small fraction of the cost by using VoIP phone systems in your business.
Social Media
Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest are just some of the social media platforms that millions of us interact with each day. They are also excellent business opportunities too. For instance, it’s possible to sell and advertise your products and services on social media.
Companies also use social media as a customer service outlet. It helps them to reduce call volumes to their contact centers, and is much cheaper to operate than one too. These days most of us contact firms through social media when we have a query.
They enable us to get answers fast, especially when we are “on the go” as it were.
SaaS (Software as a Service)
Last, but not least, we have SaaS. The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that the Web contains many online services. For example, you can use accounting software like FreeAgent through your web browser.
SaaS refers to online software that you pay a subscription to use. It’s more cost-effective than buying the software outright. And it means you always get to use the latest features. More companies are migrating to SaaS solutions for many of their everyday tasks.
As you can see, those are just a few examples of how companies can effectively run their businesses using the Internet!