Managing growth is time-consuming and can distract from your core activity of actually growing your business. Suddenly you’ve got more staff, perhaps a more complicated supply chain, larger premises – maybe even multiple locations – and many more customers. You need to control how and where your data is stored, enable your staff to communicate with each other and ensure that the critical aspects of your business are never interrupted. You need a small business solution that can scale to meet your future success, and that’s where the Microsoft Solutions and our partners can help.
How Microsoft can help
Given below are some solutions that could prepare your business for major growth. However, if you are unsure about what technology solution would best meet your business requirements you can get expert advice from Microsoft Specialist Partners. They are familiar with the challenges you are facing and can help you find the solutions that are best for you.
Get more done in your day
In a competitive world, your success depends on getting as much as possible out of your working day. Research shows that routine, everyday tasks can take up too much time that you and your staff could be putting to better use. Windows 7 is an efficient desktop operating system with features designed to optimise your time. It is easy to deploy and use, and even takes care of routine time-wasters such as searching for documents, helping you and your growing staff become more productive.
A larger number of employees will also result in more PCs to manage and communicate between. Windows Intune™ uses a combination of Windows cloud services and upgrade licensing to manage, secure and organise your computers. You can group computers in any way that suits your needs (for example, by department or geographic location). A Windows Intune subscription also gives you the rights to upgrade to future versions of Windows.
Improve insights into your company’s financial and sales data
Timely and relevant insights are critical to an expanding business, so you can make decisions based on data rather than instinct. The Microsoft Office 2010 suite of applications offers you a basic set of tools to pull together financial, sales, customer and other information in a way that lets you quickly spot trends and understand the data. Central reporting tools like dashboards and scorecards help present information from different systems in a simple, at-a-glance view, so everyone has better insight and a consistent view of the business.
Get an IT Infrastructure that adapts to your changing business needs
More employees may also mean needing a server solution to meet changing needs. These can range from connecting everyone to a printer to centrally storing databases such as contact lists to a professional email system like Outlook. Windows Server is a highly scalable platform that grows with you. You can easily add users, servers and applications, or expand into other Microsoft technologies as your business evolves.
Enable better team collaboration at a small company cost
For many companies, getting the right IT system in place to serve a growing business – and paying for it – can be a bit daunting. You probably understand the business benefits of an on-premise server, but feel the investment would strain your cash-flow. Microsoft 365 is a no-hassle alternative. For a low-cost monthly subscription you can enable your teams to collaborate better no matter where they are or which device they are using. It’s an easy way to remove the hassle of managing your IT so you can concentrate on what matters most: your business strategy.
Acquire and manage new customers to sustain your business growth
A basic contact management system is perfect when you have a small and simple customer database but as your business grows, both in number of customers and in complexity, you may want to consider a more comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) system. A fully featured CRM system would give you a complete view of your sales pipeline by tracking and integrating forecasting, opportunity and financial data. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online lets you access customer information wherever you are, via your computer or mobile. It integrates with Outlook and looks the same as other Microsoft Office programs so it’s familiar to you and your staff, reducing the need for time-consuming training.
