In business, survival requires constant innovation. For the last five years, organizations have made dramatic changes to stay relevant, responsive and competitive. Savvy owners know they need to face technology challenges head on. B2C and B2B consumers primarily shop online. The number of remote and hybrid workers continues to rise. To attract and retain younger qualified candidates, you must adopt applications that strive to maintain job satisfaction. If your company collects and stores personal data or credit cards, you must take preventive measures against cyber threats. All of these points are incredibly important, but the reality is the cost of innovation can be inhibiting. So…
Where can your tech budget make the biggest impact this coming year?
Customer Experience (CX)
While Chat GPT is the latest buzzword, what’s really driving this conversation is the incorporation of AI into the overall Customer Experience (CX). This goes way beyond adding chat bots to your website or Call Center solutions. Businesses are incorporating AI tools into many aspects of their communications – sales, customer service and agent training. The applications of AI are endless and many of these solutions are not only affordable for small to mid-size businesses, but a necessity.
AI innovations help to minimize redundant job functions and can free up payroll for key employees with higher skill sets. Whether applied to a call center or an in-house sales team, AI solutions also provide a level of analytics most companies would never have the manpower to collect on their own. For instance, every customer interaction can be analyzed and scored to give your sales and marketing teams real insights into what your customers desire most and how your employees are performing. The latest sales training applications are so advanced they can train, evaluate and score performances. Many HR teams are even adopting these for candidate screening.
Cyber Security
Firewalls and anti-virus software don’t offer the insurance they once did. Today’s cyber criminals are far more sophisticated than most of us can imagine. Often a company’s network may have been hacked several months to a year before they ever detect a threat. If your company collects critical personal and financial data or has remote workers, you are at risk.
Smaller companies can benefit greatly from adopting cloud-based applications because software providers invest a great deal into cybersecurity.
For mid-size to larger companies, regular Gap Assessments are vital to identifying and remediating weaknesses in your infrastructure. EDR and XDR solutions are aimed at identifying threats before they become breaches. Ongoing Patch Management ensures regular software updates are not causing disruptions within your network. Even companies with highly sophisticated in-house IT teams struggle juggling day-to-day network management, development projects and cyber security.
It’s important to weigh the cost of outsourcing cyber security versus the cost of staff hours spent on training and development as well as software investments. The biggest consideration is the potential of a breach happening because your staff doesn’t have the time or expertise to detect and manage threats. How quickly can you recover in the event of a breach? And, at what cost?
Focusing on delivering an outstanding Customer Experience and Cyber Security should be your company’s top priorities going into 2024. Knowing where to begin and how to free up the capital for these initiatives is the first step.
That’s where the veteran Technology Consultants at My Resource Partners can make all the difference. We start with a deep dive into your current sales and communications processes as well as your infrastructure. We’ll help you identify weaknesses and areas where you are spending too much. My Resource Partners has a network of over 350 providers and we give our clients access to wholesale pricing most companies can’t get on their own. We will not only save your team months of researching the right providers, we’ll save you 25-35% on your tech spend.
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