Welcome to the First Column IT Tech Blog

HomeBlog
Inefficiency Can Cripple Your Business. Here Are Two Tools That Can Keep Business Moving

Inefficiency Can Cripple Your Business. Here Are Two Tools That Can Keep Business Moving

September 4, 2023

Inefficiency can be a real killer for a business’ ability to take in revenue, but sometimes it seems like this lack of continuity can be unavoidable. It isn’t. Technology can go a long way toward helping you build more efficient processes. In this week’s blog, we discuss a couple of key pieces of technology used by many small businesses to keep their processes streamlined.

Customer Relationship Management

In business, nothing is more important than keeping things running smoothly. The customer relationship system (CRM) is probably the most widely accepted digital tool used to maintain organizational efficiency. The CRM centralizes data, automates several processes, and gives an organization the ability to manage and personalize customer relationships. In this way the CRM empowers businesses to boost the productivity that allows them to drive growth. Some of the functions it uses to do so include:

  • Streamlined Data Management - The CRM gives a business the ability to centralize all of the data a business collects on their customers. In doing so, it ensures that all customer information is readily available and updated in real-time. 
  • Added Automation - The CRM builds efficient processes through the automation of several parts of the business relationship. By reducing manual errors and speeding up task completion, a business runs more effectively than without a centralized CRM.
  • Personalized Relationships - Speed is only one factor relating to business success and efficiency. Being able to tailor their products and services to the needs of their customers enhances value and maximizes the profitability of each customer relationship. 

Collaboration Apps

Today’s collaboration apps are used to facilitate and boost the ability of your team to complete tasks. These apps offer users features that include real-time communication, application integration, and some project management tools; basically anything users need to efficiently complete tasks. 

The communication aspect of these apps is probably the most crucial. Not only do they provide an instant messaging platform, they also offer one-click video conferencing, and voice calling, as well as a built-in forum feature that can get people on the same page quickly. Not only do these applications offer centralized management options, they also integrate with multi-user productivity platforms that can significantly cut down on the time that tasks take. 

The more efficient your company can be, the better it will be at revenue generation. If you would like to learn more about how the IT consultants at First Column IT can help you build a more efficient business, give us a call today at (571) 470-5594.

Previous Post
April 28, 2025
Learn How Resilience is Reshaping the Cybersecurity Landscape
While the goal of cybersecurity is always to prevent threats from taking advantage of your infrastructure, this is becoming more and more challenging as time wears on and threats evolve to changes in cybersecurity discourse. A recent podcast episode from Illumio, “Trust & Resilience: The New Frontlines of Cybersecurity,” explores how trust has become a vulnerability that attackers exploit in new and creative ways. How can cybersecurity as an industry pivot in response to this trend?
April 25, 2025
Everything You Need to Know About Business Tech Updates
While technology is an important part of your business, it shouldn’t be distracting you from carrying out your company’s mission. Indeed, it can be difficult to stay up-to-date on the latest practices and solutions, and it can feel impossible to keep up. While you could adopt the “good enough” policy that many businesses settle for, we think you should take a different approach—one that will make you impossible to compete with if carried out appropriately.
April 23, 2025
Boost Your Business’ AI, Cloud, and Security
Are you constantly looking to improve your small business and stay ahead of the game? Let’s talk about some tech that can seriously boost how you operate: artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and cybersecurity.

Have a project in mind?

Start with our free consultation for VA, DC and MD companies. We will provide a detailed proposal and firm quote based on your specific IT support needs. All at a predictable monthly cost per seat.
Free Consultation - Sign Up Here