It’s Time For Your Business To Abandon These Old Technologies
Is your business clinging onto old technology? While certain old technology can still have its benefits, in many cases it can put your business at a disadvantage. Here are a few instances of old technology that your business may want to consider abandoning.
Snail mail
Do you still send out physical newsletters and bills to your customers’ addresses? In the age of email, there are few advantages to using physical mail. It’s slower and it’s costlier – and there’s a greater risk that your letter may get lost. Emails are faster, cheaper, and more reliable. They’re also better for the environment (less paper means fewer trees being cut down, plus there are the carbon emissions associated with delivery).
The times in which you may want to use snail mail include communicating with older customers (some of whom may not have an email address) and possibly chasing up late bill payments (sending a physical late payment letter is often a legal requirement before you can consider pursuing any other options). Otherwise, you should try to reduce the use of physical mail. There is software that you can use to set up email mailing lists and online billing services.
Fax machines
Some businesses still use fax machines for sending documents. While faxing is much quicker than snail mail, it’s still less efficient than email. Fax messages are charged just like phone calls – and you have the cost of paper and ink to consider too, as well as maintenance of the fax machine. On top of this, a fax machine cannot receive two messages at a time, so there’s always a risk that a fax message may not be delivered.
Fax does have security benefits over email – it’s harder to hack a fax machine, making it a better option for sending sensitive documents. However, both parties need to have a fax machine, which is becoming rarer these days. As a result, you may find it more convenient to simply strengthen your digital security and send sensitive information via email.
Landline telephones
When choosing your next business phone service provider, you may want to consider switching to a VoIP instead of using a landline. A VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) uses an internet connection to make and receive calls. When using a VoIP phone system, you can receive calls on the same number from multiple devices from multiple locations – making it possible to receive business calls while out of the office. It’s also easier to set up answering machine messages, hold music, automated receptionist services, and auto-diallers on these phone systems.
Landline telephones can sometimes provide a more secure connection, which can be one advantage of keeping onto them. It depends very much on how much you’re willing to invest in your company’s wi-fi – if you have a strong internet connection, you may not even notice the benefit of a landline.
Local servers
Some companies still use local servers to store all of their data. Storing data remotely on the cloud can have many advantages over storing data locally. When data is stored on the cloud, it can be accessed by multiple people at the same time from any device in any location. This makes it easier for people to work remotely instead of having to be in the office to access data. On top of this, the costs associated with using a cloud server are often much lower than using a local server.
Some business owners are reluctant to embrace the cloud due to security concerns. In most cases, the cloud is a more secure option – it provides a form of backup that can be more easily protected in the event of a natural disaster, fire, burglary, or network attack. However, if your business is handling sensitive information that you don’t want to be accessed off-site, you may find that it’s more secure to rely on a local server. Some of the largest businesses often use a combination of the two.
Legacy software
Legacy software is basically a technical term for ‘old software that is still in use’. Such software is generally not cloud-based and may not even be supported by the developer anymore. This could potentially make it a security hazard – it could be easier for hackers to infiltrate it and you could find that your data isn’t backed up. Such software could also be slow and buggy due to its age. By upgrading to newer software, you could improve efficiency and security. Such software may even be easier to use with more options for automating tasks that were previously carried out manually.
Many companies continue to use legacy software simply because of the cost and hassle of migrating to newer software. If you don’t use the software regularly, you may find that it isn’t worth your time or money to migrate. However, if it’s software that you rely on heavily, you could save a lot of time and money in the long run by upgrading to a newer program.
Timecards
Do you still use time cards to record when employees clock in and clock out? There was a time when all companies working on variable shifts would use these cards, however, now there are digital time clocks available that can record this data more accurately and efficiently. Such clocks can be linked up to payroll software in order to automatically calculate how much someone has earned in a week, saving you from having to do any calculations. Digital time clocks are also an added way of going paperless, helping to save the environment.
Are there any advantages to traditional time cards? Not really. Power outages and glitches may cause data to not be recorded on a time clock – in which cases you may want to revert back to the paper and pen method – but otherwise, there’s no real reason to use time cards instead of a time clock.
Digital personal organizers
Back in the 90s, digital personal organizers became a popular tool for business owners, helping to plan out one’s day and set reminders. However, these organizers have largely become defunct in recent years due to the rise of smartphones, which are able to do all of this diary-keeping and alerting for you. Even if you don’t find the factory apps on your phone to be as efficient as you’d like, there are many other separate personal organizer apps that you can download.
There are no real reasons to still use a separate gadget for doing your organization. If it’s become a familiar way of keeping your work life organized, you may find that it benefits you to stick with it – however, you could find that modern apps allow you to organize your day even more efficiently.
Calculators
Do you still keep a separate calculator on your desk? Nowadays all computers and smartphones have in-built calculators, making these tools fairly unnecessary too. When it comes to tasks like accounting, it’s often better to use accounting software that can automatically calculate taxes and expenses for you. You’ll save a lot of time using these tools instead of manually doing sums with a calculator.
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