Smart Tech: Solutions for Entrepreneurs

Being an entrepreneur means having a vision. It also requires a knack for spotting opportunities, and adapting to change in the best way possible: by taking advantage of it.

So you’ve decided to start a business. You have a great concept, understand your target market and are confident you have the time and ambition necessary to turn your vision into a reality. Just as importantly, you’ve also secured the funding needed to give your business a fair chance at success.

20 years ago, a new business – let’s for example say a shop selling sunglasses – would most likely not even consider the need of having any kind of IT development to go along with their business. Their investment would be focused on the bricks-and-mortar physical shop, its design, any staff hires, and the inventory of sunglasses to be sold.

The shop would need to be in a good location, ideally with busy pedestrian traffic outside, and marketing materials would most likely be focused on analog mediums: posters, flyers, radio and newspaper ads, and if you wanted to be really fancy, maybe even an ad on the local TV station.

All of these initial start-up costs could be funded by your investors (if you had any), your own startup capital (if you were lucky enough), or most likely, through a loan from the bank.

These days, things are very different. Most new businesses – whether they are a local delicatessen or a financial consultancy – no longer rely on analog marketing materials, and many are also no longer based in brick-and-mortar shop-fronts that fully rely on outside pedestrian traffic.

And that’s probably a good thing, because since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, getting access to a bank loan has been a lot more difficult for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). So companies have had to adapt to tougher business conditions and a lack of credit, while competition has only become more intense. It’s a wonder how any new businesses manage to survive at all in this kind of environment.

Or is it?

While credit might be harder to access, and competition might be more fierce –  there is one thing that has changed over the last 20 years that more than balances it out. And that thing is called the Internet.

The Internet has done all sorts of things. But put simply, and keeping in line with the purpose of this article – technology has made it easier to interact with and expand your customer base in a way that past generations of businesses could only dream of.

Most new businesses now take advantage of the potentialities offered by the internet for presenting and selling products to practically anyone in the world. Even delicatessens can now broaden their customer-base beyond their neighborhood and take a more regional approach to their business operations.

It’s no surprise then that practically every successful business now has a website. Websites are as ubiquitous for companies as their owners’ business cards were in the past. They are the public identity and calling card of a company, but they also act as very powerful avenues for revenue to flow through.

Whether you are a start-up or a large, established corporation, the chances are you know this already. However, as we’ve already mentioned, business environments are never easy, and managing a budget is just as – if not more – important as understanding your market. 

But if you’re a startup struggling to raise enough capital to begin operations, a fancy website might seem like a secondary consideration, for you to invest in once you are more comfortable. However, this option means you will miss out on the great benefits a website can directly bring to your business, such as offering an online retail space, or a showcase of your products.

Luckily, having a website created is no longer prohibitively expensive. You don’t need to have your own in-house IT team, and you don’t need to go to the bank for a loan (which they might not give you).

The solution is outsourcing your IT needs. And at Bocasay, we bring a balance of quality, efficiency and cost-effectiveness that means it is well worth your time to make your business digital from the get-go. Contact us to find out more – we are always interested to hear about your business and discuss how we can improve it through some cutting-edge IT solutions.