Life as an online business owner is one of constant adaptation, evolving paradigms, and the relentless search for better ways of solving your problems, improving the efficiency of your internal processes, and, of course, leveraging technology to strengthen your organization.
It is this last point that you should focus on here. Technology and online businesses go hand in, chiefly because it is a type of business model that lends itself perfectly to automation, software integration, and the use of digital technologies like cloud computing, social media, and other tools. While it might sound obvious to suggest that online entrepreneurship is fundamentally about keeping up to date with the latest technologies and finding fresh ways to integrate them into their existing businesses, this might not always be remembered when you are busy running a business.
In fact, once you have started to experience a degree of success with your company, you may find yourself slipping into comfortable habits, focusing more on maintaining what you have rather than seeking to improve it in any way. To help you keep abreast of the latest trends, here are three technological challenges that every online business owner should be aware of:
- API design
The first technological challenge you may face as an online entrepreneur relates to you building and managing your own software. If you have built or are considering building your own customer user experience interface, then making sure it runs smoothly, is easy enough to work on for developers, and is cost-effective is crucial if you are going to continue to run a functioning business. What’s more, with customers demanding more and more advanced UX features, interactivity, and a lack of bugs and glitches, getting on top of details like your API design is key.
- Cybersecurity
You might be surprised to see cybersecurity mentioned in this article at all. After all, it is such a well-known issue online that it has become something of a cliche. Unfortunately, this relaxed attitude towards cybercrime by many online business owners is exactly what causes problems for so many companies.
Firstly, you need to be aware of the risks posed by cyber threats. The very real possibility of having your sensitive data compromised, for example, could be enough to sink your business altogether.
Imagine your customers and employees instilling their trust in you to guard their private information, only for you to allow a lapse in security protocol to enable criminals to steal that data and either sell it or use it as blackmail. Any trust you had built up would be diminished, and the compensation bills might be enough to bankrupt you. To prevent this from happening, be sure to study the latest cyber threats and train yourself and your team to spot any signs of malpractice – both from external and insider threats.
- Maintaining productivity through online channels
Lastly, a key issue that many online businesses face is a lack of consistent productivity. The reason for this is that it is often difficult to communicate effectively with your remote team members through online channels and maintain full visibility of their project progress. To overcome this, hold weekly meetings with your teams and stick to one channel of communication to ensure everyone is on the same page.
