As the New Year begins here are three technologies you should be considering for 2009 and how they can help your business.
For the technologically savvy business - Unified Communications
What is it?
Unified Communications is a way of bringing together various elements of communication such as
fixed phone line, email, Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP), instant messaging and video conferencing and making them accessible from a single computer or smartphone. Traditionally used by larger enterprises, IT commentators are picking Unified Communications as a viable and cost effective option for small businesses in 2009.
How can it help my business?
You and your staff can connect from wherever you are and communication can switch from an instant message to a phone call or videoconference depending on what suits you best.
Some examples of Unified Communications in action are:
For the web based business - Webvideo
What is it?
In response to the popularity of video sharing sites such as YouTube, web video is increasingly being used by businesses to help market their products and services. High production values are not necessary; in fact the appeal of web video is often its more "low-budget" look.
How can it help my business?
Visual demonstrations of your products, helpful tips or how-to guides give visitors to your website a much more engaging experience. What's more it can be the quickest way to get your business noticed, for example:
"When employees at the Blendtec blender plant smelled sawdust, they knew Blendtec inventor and CEO, Tom Dickinson, was experimenting again and would flock to see the show.
Tom would stuff things such as 2x2s (do you mean wood? Perhaps we say chunks of wood) into his blender to test its strength. Turns out there wasn't much the blenders couldn't blend. This was caught on video and uploaded to a website. So, with an advertising budget of only $50 the 'Will it Blend?' video series began.
The outrageous items blended made it an instant hit on YouTube and it has received millions of views. More importantly for the business, sales of Blendtec blenders by increased 500%. (To see for yourself, visit www.willitblend.com)
For the back-shed business - Broadband
What is it?
The OECD has defined broadband as data transfer of 256 Kbit/s in at least one direction. This bit rate is the most common baseline that is marketed as "broadband" around the world.
It's projected that 2009 will be the year that broadband hits critical mass and becomes ubiquitous in New Zealand. Part of this is to do with the roll out of ADSL2+ technology, which will bring faster broadband speeds and services to towns and cities with more than 500 lines.
How can it help my business?
Broadband goes beyond simply fast internet browsing. It's quickly becoming the baseline necessity for enabling many additional business applications. For example, both Unified Communications and webvideo require a broadband connection. However, at a most basic level broadband can help your business: