Accessing business information on the move is essential to keeping ahead of your competitors. Most business owners create a schedule or project plan, but sometimes things change. Customers move workshops and project review meetings, internal staff are needed on another project, or travel plans need to change due to an external factor. Rather than causing chaos in your business, having access to essential business information can keep you flexible and agile.
Many business people have access to email on phones and tablets, and as this is so easy to setup your competitors probably also have this facility too. So, no competitive advantage here. Having access to project documents and records is somewhere where you can garner a competitive advantage, as it is more complex to setup properly, and will incur some costs. This puts off many micro and small businesses.
Think about the technology that a larger business would have in place, allowing them to be able to access information from outside of Worcestershire, and when working abroad. For example, a shared company calendar, contacts, Customer Relationship Management system, contact details and cost information too. How easily could you put a proposal and quote together when working abroad? Is there a standard price list or rate card that would at least give you a starter-for-ten? All of these can be put in place, and accessible out of hours and remotely from the business premises. More importantly, they can be accessed securely, so no-one else can obtain your key templates, product specs and prices – all very sensitive, and all needing appropriate security controls in place to keep them safe.
Showing your prospects and customers that you can adapt on the fly, deliver results, and by being flexible and agile, you will show that no matter what happens, you have the technology, tools and information to solve their problems.