When considering hiring an IT professional firm to aid your business, the most important question to ask yourself is:

“Will this project drive the value we are looking to achieve for our business?”

As a leader of your business, you understand the need to continually improve and reach out for help when required. Additionally, an excellent idea can be easily spoiled by poor implementation. Here is a brief list of examples of how properly planned and executed IT projects can drive value to your business.

Craft a New (or Improved) Website

The Internet only continues to expand its impact on business so it’s high time you got on board. More than just “the thing to do”, having a well-designed and useful website can bring back big returns. For example, incorporating a contact form is a great way to gather prospect information. Gathering qualified leads is the life blood of any business. Prospects who have contacted you via your website inherently have expressed interest in your business.

A well-designed and executed website is a great place to test marketing ideas. Teamed with a collaborative web developer you can quickly test and tune new promotions, service offerings, headings, colors on your website. This method is often far cheaper compared to print.

Most importantly, a growing and legitimate web presence demonstrates value and creditability to potential customers. People buy many times on the approval of others. While not every visitor will convert into a buyer, a strong web presence that reflects your businesses’ value can aid in word-of-mouth referrals.

Manage Day-to-Day IT Needs

Often forgotten, your business deserves to have its day-to-day tech needs met. It is important because it means:

  • more productivity, less downtime
  • higher morale, less frustration
  • keep employees focused on core competencies, not “solving” each others IT woes

Needless to say, keeping employees happy and productive is ideal for any business. The reliance on technology will only increase so its important to incorporate proper support for your workforce. From a buggy printer to a blue-screen-of-death, these are more than inconveniences – they hurt your bottom line and deteriorate your workforce.

Improve an Existing System

Making the choice to make major changes to your existing system or building a new system is a big one. There are many reason to do so. While “new” isn’t always better, here are some overarching ideas that can drive value to your business:

  • make things easier to find – save time and frustration
  • more accurately represent ideal workflow – each year, take time to evaluate whether your current system matches your latest business processes. If it’s not identical, that’s ok in many cases – it’s up to you to determine if the differences are great enough to incorporate.
  • improve speed, reduce bugs – ask yourself how these “bugs” impact productivity. It’s important to separate the “wish list” from the “must-have list”.
  • reduce or eliminate manual data entry/transfer – if something can be automated to make life easier, do it! Here is where creative solutions like integrating between your existing systems can really supercharge your operations!

These are just some of the powerful examples of how technology, when properly implemented, can drive value to your business. Always keep in mind the desired end results when analyzing the prospect of starting a new IT project.