August 2021
Help it Grow: Our Checklist to Help Your Business Grow
Speaking honestly, growth is one of the goals of any business in the long term, even if short term goals don’t include it. It’s almost part of the DNA of any business, as a business owner you want to nurture the business you’ve created and help it grow.
Ambition will take you far in the business world, however it will only get you so far. You need a solid plan, to include the right people through hiring diversely and, perhaps most importantly, the right tools at the heart of your business to achieve growth.
While it may sound overwhelming, planning your whole business’ journey, with the right plan in place it’s not as daunting as you think. To help out, the Lunar Team have put our years of experience to good use here, to provide you with the technology checklist for a growing business….
Consider the Cloud
In order to grow, we often have to escape the confines of our current situation, and for businesses these confines can often include on-site servers and massive amounts of paperwork. These things can end up weighing your business down, slowing processes, and prevents you from keeping up with competitors and their systems. So, the first thing to consider is the cloud and what your business can do with it.
Do you have a Bespoke CRM?
Come on, you know we had to mention it. When it comes to helping businesses to communicate with their customers and manage data and reporting, a CRM is exactly what they need. For small businesses just starting out, an off-the-shelf solution is clearly the first port of call – at that point in the business’ life, there might not be the experience of specific challenges just yet, or knowledge of pain points. When you’re setting your sights on growing, however, you’ll need a CRM which can keep up and provide you with all the data you need to implement strategies – and that’s where a bespoke CRM solution comes in.
How Good is Your Connection?
Whether it’s using a bespoke CRM solution, checking emails or updating your LinkedIn, your online business activity needs a solid internet connection in order to interact with customers, deliver work on time, and keep the business firmly planted in the 21st century. If you’re struggling with slow speeds, this might be at the top of your list – for everyone else, you may end up thinking about it further down the line.
Protect Your Data
Although small businesses can still be targets for data theft and hacking, as a business grows it becomes more susceptible to such threats. What’s more, there’s an increased amount of data being stored and more of the business relies on said data. With that in mind, your growth plans need to take into consideration ways to keep your data safe – and backed up! You might also consider a disaster recovery plan to assist in dealing with the worst-case scenario (it can happen).
Update Your Software and Hardware
Although a bespoke CRM tool will be updated by your crack team at Lunar CRM, you’ll need to ensure your other software is up to date as you gear up for growth. Not only does out of date software pose a risk to data protection (see: WannaCry’s attack on the NHS), it can also slow your employees down and prevent them from upping their game as you grow. This also goes for hardware, such as computers, which need to be able to help your team to deliver work.
Check You’re Willing to Embrace Innovation
Ask anybody who’s gone through the process and they’ll likely tell you the same thing: growing a business is stressful. Fortunately, there are tools and technological innovations coming on all the time to help – but you must be willing to embrace them. This might mean shaking things up from a heavily paper-based company rooted in tradition, becoming a paperless work environment, promoting remote working and based in the cloud.
It’s sounds like quite the change, doesn’t it? It is, but it’s one that will help your business to reach the goals you’ve set out for it, and match your ambition for growth. Now, get ticking things off the list before you grow – you’ll thank us later!
Lunar CRM provide bespoke cloud-based CRM solutions to businesses in a variety of industries – but they all have one thing in common: their ambition and willingness to innovate. Find out more about our solution on our website, or get in touch to arrange a free demo.