While building a successful startup brings some obstacles with it, expanding it and dealing with growing demands and a larger staff is the real challenge. With the takeoff of your business, you’ll want to start investing in technologies that can assist you with pushing your marketing strategy, streamlining growth, and offering confidentiality to your clients. Cyber-security is also an issue for any growing startup, so you’ll need to invest in technologies and staff that can help you keep your security top notch. If you really want to go past the startup phase and expand into a successful business – take a look at these tech upgrades that will help you do just that.
Protect Your Assets – Invest in Cybersecurity
Not only will a cyber-attack probably incur huge losses to your startup, but it’s also possible that it will irreparably damage your reputation and push away potential investors. While it’s true that large corporations are usually the targets of cyber crimes, they’re also way more ready to deal with such attacks.
Small businesses, on the other hand, are very vulnerable simply because they never prioritize cyber security and more than 60% of small businesses that are hit by a cyber-attack go out of business within six months. This is why you should consult with a cyber-security expert and get some suggestions on how to secure your online assets.
Go Mobile-Friendly (Responsive)
Though it may seem redundant advising modern startups to switch to responsive/mobile-friendly websites in 2020, the sad fact is that there are still many business websites out there that don’t utilize the power of mobile.
Switching to responsive web design might seem like a big investment, but it’s absolutely vital that you do it. Not only does Google favor mobile-friendly websites for mobile SERPs, but also as high as 60% of all searches today are done through mobile devices. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile traffic, you’re running a high risk of losing a huge cut of your business. Depending on your existing website, you’ll either need to optimize it for mobile, or do a complete redesign of the website. While upgrading the existing website might seem like a fast and simple way of upgrading, in the long run it could prove quite opposite. That’s why it might be best to consider getting help from professional software developers and web designers.
Customer Relationship Management
When you first launched, your priority was increasing traffic and attracting as many customers as possible. Now that you’re trying to expand, retention of your customers takes over and you need to make sure you do everything in your power so that they’re well taken care of.
Employing a CRM (customer relationship management) solution is going to help you manage your customer information and identify potential clients, all while improving your service and user experience. You can go with one of the free entry-level CRMs like Zoho or Insightly, which were designed with startup owners in mind.
Streamline Your Payrolls and Taxes
The growing number of your staff will bring higher volumes of payrolls and taxes, which will not only be more complex to handle, but they’ll also take more of your precious time. This is why you need to do everything you can to decrease the burden and stress level by automating your payroll and human resources. This will not only save you tons of your time, but you’ll also lift a lot of pressure off your shoulders once the tax season kicks in.
Expanding a startup beyond a certain phase requires a lot of dedication and persistence, but more than anything – smart planning and the use of right technologies. By investing your time and money in the technology upgrades we mentioned, you’ll be sure to stay in the race with your competitors, or even have an edge over them, all while keeping your stress at bay. Not only will you be happy with your positive growth, but your customers will also be happier with your services.