3 ways to ensure your tech solutions are gold, not gimmicky

Businesses in every industry are seeing that digital transformation is a prerequisite for success with the Millennial market. But the breadth and variety of futuristic tech available is overwhelming in its scope and possibilities, and the idea that you might need to deploy some kind of VR experience for your customers at great expense just to keep afloat is understandably alarming.

Thankfully, organizations can develop their digital maturity without ploughing all their resources into something new and flashy that might not even take off. All it requires is some careful planning and focus on what really matters when taking on new tech.

Deliver what the customer needs

Companies successfully implementing tech to drive business do not do so haphazardly, throwing money after whatever the latest gizmo happens to be. Online, digital, and technological tools are only beneficial to your business if they are genuinely useful to your customers. That’s why any tools or systems you invest in should be able to clearly solve or significantly alleviate actual problems that your customers have. Anything extraneous will likely go unused and simply be a drain on resources with no ROI. A shoe shop, for example, could offer online booking for appointments to try on school shoes during the busy back to school period. This is a simple solution to a long-time problem for customers, which will encourage footfall to stores and increase loyalty to the brand.

Support your team

Automation is often seen as a negative for employees, who feel they will be automated right out of their jobs. The reality is, technology works best when it supports employees and empowers them to elevate their own role. A store associate with the ability to check on items in stock in seconds from a tablet will be far better able to serve impatient shoppers than someone having to vaguely ‘check in the back’. Armed with detailed information at their fingertips, staff members can deliver better service more quickly and efficiently, enhancing the customer experience while simultaneously reducing drains on time and resources that cost businesses money.

Prioritize the practical

Technology can be seductive, and it’s all too easy to get carried away with something amazing that promises to change everything you know about running a business. A rude awakening is in store, however, when you realize it’s going to blow your budget to put in place, your staff will never get to grips with such enormous change management, and frankly your customers are going think it’s cool for approximately half an hour before the novelty wears off and it becomes obsolete.

First of all, do your research by comparing the different tools available and assessing their strengths against your needs. When looking into tools that can help your business scale and evolve, don’t underestimate the importance of finding solutions that, like Appointedd, are quick and simple to adopt, work with your existing processes to streamline instead of overhaul, and will automatically update and upgrade as the tech advances. By thinking of this as an ongoing evolution rather than a single reconstruction, your business will be far better placed to roll with whatever the future brings.