Start Your Own Business • Module 8 • Taking advantage of technology

 

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Difficulty: Standard

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Module 8 outline • Taking advantage of technology

What you should know by the end of this module
What you should know by the end of this module When you have completed this module, you should be able to: explain the advantages of using digital technology in a small enterprise list twenty-five business productivity apps available on today’s computers and mobile phones identify which apps to use for which business purpose describe several business …

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Lessons

The advent of personal digital technology
The advent of personal digital technology IBM Personal Computer One of the main reasons for entrepreneurship becoming so popular in the 21st century, is ubiquity of accessible digital technology IBM introduced its Personal Computer to the ‘man in the street’ in 1981.  The PC was truly revolutionary because it was a self-contained desktop microcomputer (as …

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What can we do with all this digital power?
What can we do with all this digital power? The improved human connection with computers has made all this power easily accessible to us.  In the 1980s, we used to have to enter information via a text-based operating system.  Today’s graphical user interface combined with mouse or touch input makes working with a computer so …

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Access to information
  Access to information Applications PC / Mac iPhone / Android Google search / Bing √ √ Chrome / Edge / Safari / Opera √ √ The internet has made research so easy that it is the de facto go-to destination for sourcing most information.  The most popular search engine in the West is Google …

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Communication (text and voice)
  Communication (text and voice) Applications PC / Mac iPhone / Android WhatsApp Web / SMS / FB Messenger √ √ Hangouts / Skype / Zoom √ √ Outlook / Thunderbird / gmail √ √ Truecaller √ √ Staying in touch with suppliers and customers is essential for the survival and growth of the small …

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Project management
Project management Applications PC / Mac iPhone / Android Google Calendar / iCalendar / Calendly √ √ Asana / Trello / RedBooth √ √ Being able to see your workload on a calendar may help you to prioritise your projects Scheduling appointments using meeting requests means that there are fewer misunderstandings Some people find project …

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Business apps
Business apps Applications PC / Mac iPhone / Android Google docs, sheets, slides, forms √ √ Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint…) √ √ Adobe Acrobat Reader √ √ Evernote √ √ CamScanner √ √ Application programmes like MS Word and Excel have been the mainstay of businesses since 1983 and 1985.  Almost any business document …

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Websites
Websites Applications PC / Mac iPhone / Android freewebsitebuilder.co.za / yola.com / wix.com √ √ WordPress √ √ Websites, especially with your own domain, are still considered a necessity for professional businesses today.  They convey permanence and credibility.  Much unchanging information like the founder’s bio and the business’ products are easily accessible to your market …

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Digital marketing
Digital marketing Applications PC / Mac iPhone / Android Facebook √ √ LinkedIn √ √ Twitter √ √ Instagram   √ HootSuite / Buffer √ √ Mailchimp √ √ Social media is a popular but certainly not the only way that small businesses can communicate their offerings to their market.  Bulk emailers are indispensable marketing …

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Graphics tools
Graphics tools Applications PC / Mac iPhone / Android Canva √   Piktochart √   Edraw Mindmap √   Windows Photos √   You may not be a hot-shot graphic designer but templates and symbols that come with some online applications will make your work look very professional at only the cost of your time
Customer/Leads management (CRM)
Customer / leads management (CRM) Applications PC / Mac iPhone / Android Insightly √ √ CamCard √ √ Contacts √ √ HubSpot / Zoho / Base √ √ Its nigh on impossible to keep track of all your prospective customers and your current customers without some sort of tool that will remind you of what …

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Banking and finance
Banking and finance Applications PC / Mac iPhone / Android All retail banks √ √ FinFind √ √ Being able to check your bank balance at will, confirm that a payment has been received or make a late-night payment using online banking is one of the most indespensable advances in fintech for entrepreneurs today
Payment solutions
Payment solutions Applications PC / Mac iPhone / Android snapscan.co.za – payment by camera √ √ sidpayment.com  – online EFT payments √ √ payfast.co.za  – online payments √ √ ikhokha.com – credit card payments   √ yoco.co.za – credit card payments √ √ Shopify / WooCommerce – eCommerce √ √ South African fintech entrepreneurs have …

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Money management
Money management Applications PC / Mac iPhone / Android SMEasy / Sage One √ √ Xero / QuickBooks √ √ Free GST Invoice   √ TaxTim √ √ In the past, you either relied on your spreadsheet ‘books’ to know how your business was doing.  Or you had to wait till month end for your …

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Data storage and security
Data storage and security Applications PC / Mac iPhone / Android Google Drive / Dropbox √ √ Automatic data Backups – GPBackups √   Anti-Virus – ESET √   Not only can you archive gigabytes of information safely and cheaply in the cloud (to be retrieved at a minutes notice when SARS calls for it) …

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Travel
Travel Applications PC / Mac iPhone / Android Google Maps – Traffic / Waze √ √ Uber / Taxify / Gautrain √ √ How often would you have been late for a meeting if it wasn’t for Google Maps: Traffic chosing a route that avoided unseen congestion?  And how often would you not have gone …

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Business performance and intellegence
Business performance and intelligence Applications PC / Mac iPhone / Android Yue Diligence √   SME Snapshot √   Sophisticated analysis of your business performance, previously only available from costly financial analysts, is now available at your finger tips   In the last – bonus – module we will see what we can do to …

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