Why is a good IT infrastructure necessary for a business at digital age?
We are living in a different age now then we were 20 years ago. Market changed quite extraordinarily in these years. There are more opportunities now. New technology is coming into the market every day, new products are being launched everyday, hence giving rise to the tremendous competition that goes hand in hand with the opportunities. New businesses are opening and closing everyday. So how to compete in this market? Is there a way to stay ahead in this competition?
The changing business landscape
Business landscape is changing everyday , people are always finding new ways so that their business can stay ahead from others. The most drastic change that occurred in last 20-30 years is the penetration of internet in every section. Use of internet in the past 20 years has changed drastically. Now people go to the internet to ask about everything be it doctor, groceries or anything they require. So for businesses to get people to know about their product they also started using internet, in forms of advertisement, pop ups etc. But now that advertising in the internet has became so common people want more, businesses are trying to give them more in form of gift certificates , lottery or anything that will make people come into their store. The businesses that thought that old methods are good and didn’t change with time cease to exist.
Importance of Information
The factor that leads to the success in any business is the information that the business has. Information about the market condition, information about trends in the market or market demand, information about the competition in the market or supply, information about future forecast. If a business wants to be successful it should acquire this information first before and correctly use this information. This will ensure that the products that you are launching have more demand and less supply which will make your product successful.
So is it really hard to get information? No, acquiring information to conduct proper business is not that hard but there are some factors that pose as impediments in getting this information like some businesses are not able to change the old habit of doing business. They do not value the importance of marketing or acquiring business information. These make their business vulnerable. The less you know about the market the more vulnerable you become, this businesses if stubbornly choose to not change their methods it will result in huge losses or even bankruptcy.
Sometimes businesses have the information but it goes to the wrong person who will not know what to do with it. It is necessary to provide right information to the right person so that he can make decisions for the better of the company.
So now the question is how to defeat your competitors and be first in the market.
How to be first in the market
To be in front of your competitors, the first step is to keep yourself updated according to the current market tactics. If you keep following the old ways your business will be left behind. Automation is used by many different departments nowadays as it minimizes the human efforts and human errors and also reduces the total time required in the production. Hence automation should be given where ever possible in an organization.
Flow of information is another major part for being ahead of the competition. Information between different departments of the industry, information between employers and employees, information between sellers and buyers, are some of the main parts where fast flowing information is required, you can improve a product by getting enough information from various areas and concluding where the improvement is required. By doing this your products quality will become top-notch and will be tough to compete with.
Providing good services is another area which can reinforce your establishment in the market. So why do businesses need to provide good services if they are already selling high quality product at reasonable price? The answer to this question is simple, to create a trust bond with the customer. Even after selling high quality product sometime mishap occurs and if you are not cooperative with the customer you will lose the trust factor and He/she will go on to buy a product from an organization that looks after its customer even after selling the product. It’s as said earlier the more you provide the more chances you have to stay ahead in the competition.
Human resource importance
No matter how good automation is in your organization without proper human resource organization will not do good. So how to separate good human resource management from poor? Various factors that can be used to define good human resource management are:-
1. Shift your people to thinking smart work – Before doing this automation should be provided where ever possible in the industry so as to eliminate any redundant task done by people that can be easily done by machine. People should be encouraged to think creatively and innovatively. This are the task that no machines can do, they should be encouraged to think out of the for the benefit of organization
2. Knowledge Management- Employees should have the proper information about the objective and purpose of the organization they are working in. Seniors in an organization should be encouraged of teaching fresher’s about what they have learned in all this years in working with the organization. This will increase the corporate IQ of the employees. Employees will further use this corporate IQ in various areas like starting a new project or developing a new product.
3. Empower your people- There are several ways to empower your people, like providing them with portable devices that can be used for different purposes, evaluating the process used in production of product. A good process can eliminate lots of redundant tasks hence saving employees a lot of time. And the last one is to re engineer your organization as per comfort of the employees.
Transforming Business Strategy
Business strategy in this digital age is quite different than before and you have to transform your business strategies according to them. For this you have to learn about IT first. IT can help in all the departments in an organization increasing the overall efficiency of the organization and hence maximizing profit. IT can help building various strategies for the organization. Many businesses have used this as a tool to step forward from others.
So to make a business successful, use of IT is not an option but a necessity.
