IT is the key to working smart

The most successful businesses are the ones that harness the latest in technology to become more efficient and provide the best service to their customers.

In an age when every penny must count, forward-thinking companies realise that computer technologies allow them to ensure that their staff are directed to the best effect and that tasks that once took many hours can now be done quickly. That can include everything from communication with customers to market analysis.

Using IT in this way is invaluable for any company - especially a small one - because it means that skilled members of staff are not preoccupied on tasks which do not require their creativity. They can instead concentrate on developing new products and exploring opportunities.

The truly switched-on companies have realised that new technologies give them ways of directly getting in touch with large numbers of customers through databases.

Such databases allow them to send out mass emails which, rather than simply being advertising tools more likely to suffer the delete button, exhibit more thought and a sense of value for money. Such messages update people on projects and products, answer the questions that clients have been asking and seek their views on improvements that can be made.

Before computers and associated electronic developments, such tasks were possible but took a huge amount of time to administer. Envelopes, letters and typing pools are all expensive and intensive ways of working; many people still appreciate mail but even more live by email.

Because technology has changed everything, helping companies to secure and retain customers and saving man hours, understanding your IT is crucial.