Starting a business today is simpler than it’s ever been – and we have technology to thank for that…..
Having a great idea and choosing a name aside, a decade ago setting up a business meant finding an office, getting a phone line put in and buying a computer to put on your desk. So a substantial upfront investment in costs was required, including a lease, hardware, and often minimum terms which could leave you heavily out of pocket if you didn’t make a go of things straight away.
And now….? It really couldn’t be any easier. While you certainly still need that great idea and company name, setting up a new business now can, depending on your line of work, be as simple as opening your laptop and logging on to your home wifi. These lower costs mean fewer barriers to access, so starting a business is an option for a lot more people – which can only be a good thing for both competition and innovation.
There’s no need in many cases to even have a premises, although many still want that. Work can now be done on the go, in the café or local pub – in short anywhere that has an internet connection. Often it can be done direct from your phone – and who could have imagined that a decade ago?!
But of course, nothing in this world worth having is ever 100 per cent easy, and while you may be happily and successfully doing your work from the local café, you may well find that your customers prefer dealing with the sort of world they’ve become used to over the years.
Often, this manifests itself in customer service and conventional call handling – people like the sense of permanence and stability that ringing an office brings, even if the business they are dealing with is small or has staff who are often out and about.
Luckily, technology has kept up here as well. Products such as VoIP can be very effective, with the system allowing you to transfer calls seamlessly between users and offices. Perfect for set-ups where everyone is on the go but you don’t want or need the expense of secretarial staff. You can connect wherever you are – and the calls are cheaper too! But this innovation has not come at the cost of quality, as VoIP is also powerful and reliable enough for video conferencing too.
So look into VoIP now to see if it’s a good solution for your company – we’ll be happy to advise you on the options available!
