Consolidating Platforms
As a small business, optimizing processes and streamlining growth can be a major challenge. Especially when every task is managed with separate systems and packages. Consolidating your platforms, however, can offer many benefits and help unlock additional business success. Though daunting for many businesses, the process is relatively straightforward and could prove crucial for small business growth.
What Are The Benefits of Consolidating Platforms for Small Business?
Ensuring success as a small business often comes down to streamlining existing processes and ensuring your technology works for you and not against you. Consolidating all operations and services into one platform can be an excellent way to ensure this. The most notable benefits of consolidating your platforms include:
- Cost Savings: A single platform can be more cost-efficient than many. One provider and a set of services can be far less expensive than multiple providers and a broad range of services;
- Scalability: A single platform can help you scale when required. Growing with one platform can be a far more straightforward process than with multiple options;
- Security: Having multiple service providers and an array of separate services means multiple main points of contact for hackers and cybercriminals. Consolidating platforms allows you to centralize security processes and reduce risk;
- Integration: A single platform allows you to more easily integrate various products, services, and processes for maximum workflow efficiency;
- Visibility: Unifying platforms can help achieve enhanced visibility of data and business processes that help you analyze progress and set future goals.
The Steps To Consolidating Small Business Platforms
Consolidating your small business’s platforms shouldn’t be a daunting prospect. Many services and platforms now offer a range of consolidation products and services to help you get the job done quickly and easily. The most common steps to consolidating your small business platforms include:
- Analyze Your Existing Services: Before consolidating, it’s essential to assess your existing services and platforms to see which options are the most suitable for your needs;
- Choose The Right Provider: Research your options and actively explore which platform will best meet your demands. Think about the services you need and those that may come in handy in the future;
- Integrate Your Data: Once you find the right provider, it’s then time to integrate your data and existing services. Prepare yourself for a lengthy task, though many services are now offering smooth migration processes;
- Manage Your Data: After consolidating, make sure to prioritize data management, as overlooking this part of the process could see you lose important information;
- Keep Reviewing: It’s also essential you continually review your platform to check all data is accessible, integrates correctly, and that any scalability is necessary;
- Stay Up To Date: Keeping on top of advancements in technology and that of your chosen platform is crucial for success;
- Seek Professional Help: If the process becomes complex or convoluted, it’s always wise to seek professional help from an experienced consultant or technology solutions provider.
The Types of Platforms To Consider When Consolidating
When researching platforms, you’ll uncover a variety of services designed to cover a range of business needs. Here are some of the more popular and beneficial types of platforms to consider when consolidating your small business.
Sales & Marketing:
Sales and marketing platforms are ideal for small businesses looking to optimize operations in both areas. An integrated platform will encompass CRM, lead generation, email campaigns, and much more.
Accounting & Bookkeeping:
Forecasting and budgeting should be top considerations for any small business. Having one platform that operates accounting and bookkeeping can help. You can automate data entry, ensure accuracy, and have Business Intelligence (BI) to help with decision-making.
Workplace Collaboration & Productivity:
Having one provider for collaboration, productivity and data storage can help ensure the smoothest workflow. Platforms such as Google Workspace can help facilitate and streamline the entirety of the team’s workflow via cloud computing and AI solutions.
Customer Support & Service:
Customer service reps are the lifeblood of a small business success. Today’s platforms now allow agents to operate from one easy-to-use interface, manage all customer contacts from social media to live chat, and report and analyze progress.
Consolidating platforms for small business can be an excellent way to streamline your operation and ensure best practices are in place. Research and choose your provider carefully, and make sure you have data and employee goals in mind. Have a clear idea of what you need and don’t take on more services than you require.
With the right strategy, consolidating your small business services can offer major benefits and help you unlock additional growth. Whether you’re looking to reduce costs, establish greater security, or make the most of powerful integrated solutions, having the right platform in place can be critical for success.
