Business First Family Business, Accounting, Finance, Investing, Marketing And Management
Running a brand new business online is never going to be the easiest thing to do, but the challenges can also be fun and manageable if you’re equipped with the right knowledge, software and tools. When it comes to facilitating the rapid expansion of a startup in the tech industry, there are few aspects that are more important than networking, communicating, and collaborating in a proficient and secure manner. Regardless of which industry you operate in, if your company does business online it will be doing an extensive amount of networking over the internet. Thus, these are networking tips that no online startup should ignore:
1. Collaborate in the Cloud with Unified Communications
Unified communications is the practice of integrating multiple forms of communication and collaboration into one platform that serves as an all-inclusive interface for your networking needs. This prevents you from having to log in and out of separate accounts to send emails and chat messages, make VoIP phone calls, or engage in video or conference calls. A common name that you’ve probably heard before – Cisco – is the industry standard for unified communications software, so it would be wise to work on implementing a custom solution with the help of an authorized Cisco dealer.
2. Stay Active on Social Media
Now that you have a robust platform that you can use to collaborate with your team through multiple contact methods, it’s time to make sure everybody is reaching out to the rest of the world efficiently as well. Social media campaigns are essential for helping your brand reach its full potential. If you haven’t already, you should be doing things like networking through LinkedIn, creating an official page for your business on Facebook, establishing a presence on Twitter, and regularly publishing social media content that is shareworthy, like posts from Australian Geographic, and/or promotes your brand.
3. Focus on Quality, Security, and Reliability
When it comes to networking with your workforce and handling the sensitive financial data of customers, there’s nothing more important than security. This is another reason why you should try to avoid software services from newer development companies that haven’t had time to establish their reliability as much as a company like Cisco, which has been doing business since 1984. When an online startup is booming and there are a lot of transactions at stake, even the smallest hiccup in business performance can result in the loss of a lead, a security breach, or an inefficient workflow that leads to substantially decreased productivity when assessed in the long-term.
4. Use Top-Notch Encryption and Send Large Files Directly
If you’re working on something that you don’t exactly want to share with anyone (that’s okay – most great businesses have trade secrets), or if you’re processing a lot of financial transactions, it is imperative that you use an encrypted connection equipped with an SSL certificate at all times. You can also prevent data from ever being hosted on the World Wide Web by choosing to send large or confidential files directly from one machine to another. It’s always good for a business owner or manager to have at least a basic understanding of cybersecurity and encryption.
5. Upgrade Your Servers
By the very definition of the word “burgeoning,” if this guide applies to your business, chances are you’re going to need to upgrade your hosting plan to accommodate the traffic increase. This might seem like an obvious thing to do when running a business, but even the largest and most successful apps have faltered in this regard, which is evident by the fact that the servers for Pokémon Go have been going offline here and there due to being overloaded. While you might not be expecting as many visitors or users as the famous character-battling game that has swept the world by storm, similar mishaps can happen on a smaller scale if you don’t have access to enough server resources to keep your sites and apps running smoothly during the busiest hours.
6. Always Be Practicing
As with anything else in life, whether you are learning how to become an actor or even learning to ride bike, if you want to get good at online networking, you are going to want to be practicing every single day. Make sure to log onto your social media accounts at least once a day. You can post original content, reply to other accounts’ posts or even just follow a couple new people. No matter what you social networking task you decide, just make sure something is done every single day to improve your online social networking skills. This is one way you will almost certainly succeed and start earning enough money to make a deposit at a bulge bracket bank.
Creating the Perfect Virtual Workplace
In closing, all of the steps above are really about creating the perfect online headquarters for your business to flourish without facing unnecessary interruptions or digital threats. In the same way a brick and mortar shop would aim to make its office or lobby as comfortable as possible for guests and ensure that it’s not easily robbed by installing office security cameras and alarm systems, online business owners should be taking similar steps to optimize their sites, apps, and networking practices with security and quality in mind.
