Technology has transformed business in a million different ways, but perhaps one of the most notable changes is the way it has become so much lighter. We can now outsource our services, communicate from great distances and store files on the cloud: all of which allows companies to operate from a more diverse range of locations, to move around more freely and easily, and to work with fewer supplies and smaller teams.
Building your business this way will help to reduce your overheads and increase your resilience, while at the same time making you more efficient and adaptable to meet the requirements of your customers and clients. But how do you go about making the very most of technology in order to achieve flexibility and adaptability? Read on and we'll look at some of the things you can do to make your business truly lightweight by leaning on the latest technology.
Device: The Surface Pro 3
The ideal devices to use in a lightweight business would be those that are physically small and light while still having the full power of larger machines. They should be adaptable to be used in a range of situations and they should sport long battery lives.
The ideal choice then would be the brand new Surface Pro 3 from Microsoft. This is a 'slate' computer that houses the power of a full desktop Windows PC in the light body of a thin 12'' tablet. The specs go all the way up to i7 processor with 256GB storage space and 8GB of RAM, while the battery life gets up to around 9 hours. The Type Cover keyboard attachment allows you to turn it into an incredibly light ultrabook (with adjustable viewing angles thanks to the friction-based kickstand) while the digitizer pen is ideal for taking notes while standing up at a trade show or meeting. You can work anywhere with this set up, allowing any location to become your office. They're also much smaller and lighter for your office relocation when it happens.
File Storage: Cloud Services and Portable Scanners
Building your business this way will help to reduce your overheads and increase your resilience, while at the same time making you more efficient and adaptable to meet the requirements of your customers and clients. But how do you go about making the very most of technology in order to achieve flexibility and adaptability? Read on and we'll look at some of the things you can do to make your business truly lightweight by leaning on the latest technology.
Device: The Surface Pro 3
The ideal devices to use in a lightweight business would be those that are physically small and light while still having the full power of larger machines. They should be adaptable to be used in a range of situations and they should sport long battery lives.
The ideal choice then would be the brand new Surface Pro 3 from Microsoft. This is a 'slate' computer that houses the power of a full desktop Windows PC in the light body of a thin 12'' tablet. The specs go all the way up to i7 processor with 256GB storage space and 8GB of RAM, while the battery life gets up to around 9 hours. The Type Cover keyboard attachment allows you to turn it into an incredibly light ultrabook (with adjustable viewing angles thanks to the friction-based kickstand) while the digitizer pen is ideal for taking notes while standing up at a trade show or meeting. You can work anywhere with this set up, allowing any location to become your office. They're also much smaller and lighter for your office relocation when it happens.
File Storage: Cloud Services and Portable Scanners
Another way to ensure you have fewer heavy items to use is to cut down on papers and documents and make the move to a truly paperless office. One of the best ways to do that meanwhile is to use a portable scanner which can scan multiple pages, front and back, by taking them in through a paper feed. The best of these come with built in software that will use OCR (optical character recognition) to turn your pages into searchable word documents and that will upload all your files to a cloud storage service like Evernote or DropBox. Now your files will always be accessible from any machine and you'll never need to carry piles of papers with you moving office.
Outsourcing: Virtual Assistants
With this setup your staff will now have light machines that can access all the relevant data from anywhere in the world. But you will still have a lot of staff which will create its own challenges.
If you want to keep your business small then, you should consider outsourcing some of your work to other online services. Virtual assistants are businesses that will complete any task you need completing that can be completed through phone and e-mail and that doesn't require particular specialist skills. Virtual assistants will handle administrative tasks, proof reading, web editing, research, customer support and more while you sleep allowing you to keep your team smaller and still provide excellent support and achieve impressive output.
Communication: Auto Responders and Skype
For communication you can also use auto-responders and mailing lists in order to reduce the number of similar e-mails you're sending to clients and business partners thus freeing yourself up even more time. Skype meanwhile can be used along with a high-quality web cam in order to provide video conferencing so that you don't have to attend meetings halfway around the world. Use time clock software and you won't even need to be in the same room as your staff. You'll all be able to work from anywhere, at any time and with minimal distractions.
The author of this article, Nancy Baker, is a freelance blogger who is currently writing for AMJ Campbell. She has a very dynamic personality and she enjoys trying new things. You can also follow her on Twitter @Nancy Baker.
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