Technology Trends for SMEs in 2016

The world is moving quickly when it comes to technological headway. In this article, we will be talking about Business Technologies for SMEs and New Startups. The year 2015 was all about Social Media as well as Smartphone Generation. But, 2016 won’t be same. In this year, we will be able to see the following trends for SMEs and Startups.

Device Adaptive Online Presence

The smartphone industry is on a boom, and it is resulting into more smart customers who have access to the world on their fingertips. The statistics [statista] shows that in the USA, a smartphone mobile user is spending 1.8-hour average. New startups and SMEs are considering this data as a significant game changer. Switching to a Device Adaptive or Responsive website development for business is one of a good strategy that helps small business to reach more dormant customers worldwide. 86% of tablet user and 72% of smartphone user research a business product using their devices, this figures clearly shows that in near future a responsive (device adaptive) business website will be considered as a Business Necessity.

Business Mobile App Bandwagon

Undoubtedly, 2015 has been a tremendous year for mobile, we have seen the considerable evolution of the smartphone by giants like iOS 9, Window 10, Android 5.1. Mobile has increasingly become an essential part of people’s daily lives than ever before, and being in the tech industry, we can say that a business brand needs to be where its patrons are. However, existing businesses have already started adopting a smart move by developing a business mobile application to keep a hold on their buyers, specifically B2C business. A mobile application is not just helping a business by improving brand value, but a well-developed mobile application can back marketing and business strategies with lots of data insights.

– Smart Insights study found that in the USA, mobile digital media time is now significantly higher (51%) than desktop (42%).

– Pew Internet Project says, almost two-thirds (64%) of Americans own a smartphone and 46% say they can’t live without their phone [Study by- Pew Research Center].

The Smartphone is now the inherent part of daily life and because of this, users have started obliging more with mobile application and websites. The tech industry is driving the centers on generating more personal engagement with customers. In 2016, emerging brands have to engage and interact with users on their terms. Context sensitivity will be a driving force in 2016.

Mobile Payments

The Mobile Payment Technology is here to stay. This is not just because of merchants who accept cards and digital payments through mobile devices, but buyers are increasingly welcoming the idea of smartphone payment. The mobile payment adoption will continue to rise as it is quite easy to sign up for a smartphone payment account and accepting payment instantly. NFC will be a driving factor due to its low-cost adoption. However, security concerns will be on priority.

Customer Relationship Management System

Though CRM is not a new term for the marketers, but in 2016, the CRM system is more likely to take place in many businesses. CRM is not just a software for managing the customer data, it’s a system that produces significant insights about customers’ journey state, buying patterns, decision-making process, and other pertinent data that is vital for sales & marketing as well as business intelligence. CRM systems will continue to evolve for upcoming years as companies will make long-term investments in customer care. Now, the CRMs will be designed smartly as per the business needs to guide the team to the next level.

ERP Lite

Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP is around us for quite some time. Many businesses have succeeded in without ERP system. However, we are talking about trends for small businesses it can be clearly seen that SMEs are focussing on ERPs which can fulfil their custom need, more companies are likely to adopt ERPs which can ease their overall business processes and show the statistics on finger tips. The complete ERP solution needs deep pockets, as a result light ERP or requirement based ERP will be trending in the near future. After all, it’s all about growing business. Being an ERP solutions provider, we have observed that businesses are more likely to acquire a solution which helps in Business Process Management, Resource Management (including Human Resource), Inventory Management, Accounting and so on.

Automation

• Field Force Automation:Employees are key assets of any organisation. As technology is advancing, companies are giving wings to employees. Mobile Technology is helping to work smarter, better, and faster along with improving the productivity of Mobile Employees, Streamline Field Operations and Dispatch, Increase management insight, and Optimize business operations.
• Marketing AutomationMarketing departments of an organisation are forced to be ahead of competition every day. With the help of software or a platform specially designed for marketing an organisation will be able to market more effectively with multiple channels online (Emails, websites, social media etc.) and schedule repetitive tasks. This will drive the change of Digital marketing.
• Business Process AutomationBack office automation is one of the trends already with us for quite some time. Companies have realised that human repetitive errors in a particular task and process at the core of the business can damage the reputation as well as profits of an organisation. Also, companies have identified that applying manual efforts are very costly and poor use of human resources. This is resulting into Business Process Automation that reduces the cost, less time investment, improved efficiency, better customer services etc.
• Testing AutomationLike Business Process Automation, Testing Automation is one of the trending automation in IT industry. Testing Automation is a process where a software, application or relation projects are tested with predicted outcomes and flow. This automation system helps in quick problem detection, test data creation, GUI interaction, defect logging and so on. Similar to other automation testing automation save tons of time in problem identifications that lead a business to quick solutions.

CyberSecurity

Data protection is and will always be the first and most prior concern of any organization while going for technology advancement. Cybercrimes become easier and lucrative moreover, it’s becoming professional. This major concern will lead a business to invest more on cyber security.

Mobile Apps bridging the Wearable Technology

A few years back, Wearable was totally unknown for many (we could say almost everyone). Fast-forward to 2014-15 and wearable technology is all around. The wearable tech is something new to the world and it is in the initial stage of evolution, that means there are lots of new opportunities are laying with that. With the evolution of mobile, wearable technology will evolve simultaneously and the need of the compatible applications that connects mobile and wearables, will be in demand.

We are into the IT industry for more than 8 years now, being a SMEs friendly Technology solutions provider, we are very well versed with the problems and best solutions that can be used to resolve it. Feel Free to contact us.