When you associate women with technology & Internet, just names like Angie Hicks & Kim Komando come to mind for most of us. There are many other female Internet Entrepreneurs and E-business Owners that are less popular than household names but equally and more successful. Here are a few to get the ball rolling but there are plenty more where they come from.
Female speakers in Disrupt 2014 in San Francisco sure got my attention on female business owners embracing technology to pursue their ambitions. Women aren’t shying away from technology based business opportunities. They are very present in E-business as employees and employers.
A woman’s courage & new-found love towards technology are not the only contributors to the rise in this pursuit. Technology industry itself has matured and advanced to a level that is ready for business. I am not necessarily talking about game changing ideas that attract angel investors to shower you with a million dollars of startup fund for a stake in your firm.
That’s right..! I am talking about the women of middle class entering an existing market with a common business model targeting an above average market growth rate, otherwise categorized as Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). There are plenty of opportunities and women have embraced technology to benefit/enable their pursuits and overcome barriers.
Here are some industry qualities that Women Owned SMEs of today can take advantage of:
No Coding Required
You neither have to learn to code nor do you have to employ coders to write lines for your business application from scratch.
Replicatable architecture, ‘Ready for Business’ Solutions & Scripts exist to quickly launch your business. Internet and E-business solutions industry has matured enough to support entrepreneurship on a grand scale.
Less Hardware. Cloud it All
Save money on hardware. You don’t have to buy the physical server and set it up. Cloud spaces are easier to buy and setup. Upload all your applications to the cloud and you are now live.
Reduced Costs
Operational and initial capital costs have greatly come down for SMEs. With lot of options to choose from, entrepreneurs of today are blessed with competitive pricing on Business Solutions.
Customer Support
All applications and softwares are now backed with after pre and post sales support. Almost any problem can be fixed or they issue a refund.
Social Media & Online Advertising
Thanks to Google, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and all the other less important social media sites, SMEs can advertise easily from the comfort of their home or small office advertise to the world at affordable costs.
Fewer Staff Required
This directly saves costs. Human Resource can be a big expense for SMEs. Many small operations can be done with very minimal staff thanks to automated technologies and mobile devices.
Other Support Services
Whether you have to overnight a package, run your taxes, hire a consultant or order inventory you can take advantage of the established technology and services to reduce delays and improve efficiency of your business.
This however can vary geographically Even within the US, some services are just far out of reach in some places.
I am sure there are many more that isn’t mentioned here like Financing Options for example. This just varies a lot by region to region as well.Tell us how you have taken advantage of technology and infrastructure to help your business. Post them in the comments.
Author: Sunil Thomas