Four technology trends to help your business thrive in 2018

1. Cloud computing is now an integral part of business life

Pretty much any industry you can think of has adopted cloud services in some form or another. The manufacturing sector in particular has seen across the board changes in the way people work and where they work - contributing to a huge shift in how business is conducted. And it’s not all about cost reduction. Whilst this is certainly still a top priority, the ability to scale efficiently and adapt to emerging opportunities have stepped to the forefront as the most compelling reasons to adopt cloud solutions.

The intuitive nature of business applications in the cloud can empower you to start with what makes most business sense to you - and gives you the flexibility to easily extend, expand and modify as your business grows and changes over time - without the need to tear your IT down and start again (causing major disruption to your workflows).

As a Microsoft accredited Cloud Solutions Provider (CSP) Syscom are a partner that not only understands the transition to the cloud but the entire process of selecting the right business applications as your business grows and prospers, we’ll be with you every step of the way.

“71% of strategic buyers cite scalability, cost and business agility as the most important drivers for using cloud services.“  - Gigaom Research

2. Digital Transformation is creating connected business processes

Microsoft recently surveyed business owners and employees to understand their most challenging problems. Guess what the most common problem was? ...Lost productivity from teams working across multiple, independent systems that had no way of interacting with each other. It’s something both business owners and IT managers will be acutely familiar with and can lead to a host of associated inefficiencies: manual processes, errors due to duplicate entries and Lack of visibility which can hinder your decision making and put you on the back foot versus your competitors.

Digital Transformation sounds like a buzzword… But it’s actually a relatively simple concept to understand - using digital technologies (mobile, social, analytics, the cloud) to transform how your people and your business works. Whilst less-mature digital businesses tend to focus on solving discrete problems with individual solutions, those that look to connect their processes, systems, people and data can gain a deeper insight into what’s happening in their business. This holistic view lets you anticipate what will happen - allowing you to respond swiftly and capitalise.

Digital transformation is about breaking free from the historical silos that exist between disparate CRM tools, ERP software systems, accounting applications, and other third-party technologies. It’s about seamlessly integrating productivity tools like email, office and data processing to empower your people to achieve more.

With Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations from Syscom PLC, you can go from quote to cash without the complexity of switching applications. Set up customers or vendors, create quotes, process orders, and submit invoices without leaving your inbox. Easily export data and create outgoing documents directly in Word and Excel with seamless integration between Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Office 365.

3. Empower your sales team - embrace mobility

4. The ‘Internet Of Things’ is real - and it has business implications

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a broad term relating to the method of collecting and analysing data which is then used to identify trends, patterns and common behaviours. It can even be used to predict future behaviour. More and more businesses are using this greater level of insight into how their business works (and how their customers interact with their business) to increase operational efficiency and thrive in the marketplace.

As we move into 2018, IoT will become increasingly woven into the fabric of business, bringing together data, people, processes and systems. New business opportunities will emerge and customer interactions will become more meaningful through increased insight. IoT lets you better understand your products, your customers and your markets.

With help from Syscom the challenge for each business to understand how best to harness data becomes an easy transition to deliver actionable intelligence throughout your organisation. You can proactively analyse data to spot sales trends, identify your highest margin customers, uncover under-performing product lines and more.