3 Reasons Technology Influences Business’

The world has changed, we longer live by the same rules or expectations we used to just a few short years ago. The world is moving faster and those not keeping up will find themselves at risk of falling behind – whether in the business world or in your personal lives.

An interesting discussion recently with the Presidential elections just a few weeks away is the unemployment rate and why is it still so stubbornly high. This is not a political statement but rather how I view the unemployment picture from a technology perspective which is where I play day in and day out.

I believe the days of sub-5% unemployment are gone and below are just 3 reasons why I believe technology is driving this “New Normal”.

1. VOIP Technology

Companies for many years had full support staff at all their offices and ran their remote sites as fully independent units that connected to each other in the traditional arms length fashion. They each had a receptionist, executives had desks/offices at each location and duplicate positions at all levels existed because depending on staff of other offices for your day to day needs was just too cumbersome.

Today with VOIP, a central receptionist handles all calls for entire organization eliminating the need for these additional receptionists. This same idea permeates at all levels. Executives have mobile devices that interplay with the offices VOIP systems and can now work remotely from anywhere in the world as efficiently as if they were sitting at the home office. Messages are left as wave files on their emails that can easily be distributed back to home offices and actually across entire organization.

2. CLOUD Technology

There was a time that companies had extensive in-house IT support staff. With today’s technology, companies are finding that using CLOUD services, they can minimize the in-house staff required to run their IT businesses needs and simply out-source a large part of their IT business.

Quite simply, CLOUD Technology once up and and running requires minimal maintenance. Instead of having to download and/or install software yourself paying expensive licenses, etc., in the cloud it is all done for you. The cloud also offers virtually unlimited storage capacity relative to typical hard drive and server limits. The cloud is also adaptable. If you need more storage, it’s instantly available for a slightly larger fee per month. Since your business data is stored in the cloud, your employees will be able to access software and data anywhere from nearly any device that has Internet connection.

I have seen companies go from 6 in-house IT personnel to just 1 in-house and out-source the rest to competent and much more effective IT Support companies. Did 5 jobs just disappear, looks like it?

3. MOBILE Technology

Smartphones, Tablets, Laptops and unlimited and readily accessible internet services has created a mobile workforce that is more fluid, efficient and flexible. Just the other day at a CITRIX event, I heard them say that their folks no longer had their own desks, they simply grab an available shared desk space, logged into the VOIP phone with their credentials, fire up their laptop or tablet and that’s it. They are now working at a full suited desk and when done move on to their next destination. Do we still need to build so many office buildings or can we share workspaces? Do we still need to drive every day to our designated offices or can we work from home or remote location? Do we need as many secretaries and assistant as we used to considering so many resources can be shared from central stations on a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio vs. the traditional 1:1 ratio?

Technology is eliminating many low and mid-level skill positions because as you have heard before, “There is an APP for that” and they are actually available. As simple as SIRI reminding you of your appointments and making the calls for you. There was a time not that long ago that your employed assistant did this for you. Do you really need that person or has technology replaced that need?

For all technology related projects or services, follow the path most smart businesses are following – bring in unbiased and fully trained technology specialist such as the ones at nQuery Telecom Solutions.

nQuery Telecom Solutions is a fast growing technology consulting firm providing comprehensive solutions for businesses, non-profit organizations and government institutions based in the US market. Our goal is to provide businesses with cost effective technology solutions that will help increase their business productivity and reduce the costs associated with Telephony & Information Technology while enabling them to funnel these savings to further invest and grow their business.

For more information about nQuery Telecom Consulting visit our website at www.nquerysolutions.com or call 305-760-8491.