2017 has been a great year for innovation in business, especially in the area of artificial intelligence. Starting a small business today costs a fraction of what it did 20 years ago. A huge part of that development is due to the innovations in information technology that allow us to work virtually from anywhere.
The design of these technological innovations have shifted the dynamics of not only how we do business, but even in the basic way we interact with one another. Instant, real-time global communication and collaboration is basically a given for the modern business environment, but these advances have gone much further and allowed a small group of people to accomplish tasks that would have taken teams in decades past.
For example, a small business owner can now delegate most of the repetitive tasks in their organization to automation with little or even no human input required. Not only does this increase productivity and lower costs immensely, it also results in better accuracy of recorded data which in turn leads to more precise and relevant reports and forecasts. A small business of less than ten people today can accomplish more in less time using automation, artificial intelligence, and big data analysis than an organization of hundreds could just twenty or thirty years ago.
Beyond customer relationship and communication, some of the most basic and vital pieces of this equation is using automation to handle such mundane and tedious tasks as record keeping of bills from suppliers, filing, sending invoices by mail, or receiving payments by mail… these are all things of the past. Small business owners and entrepreneurs have more time to spend now on growing their business by focusing more on innovations of their own.
If you aren’t already automating your accounting processes or using online accountants to the fullest extent possible, now is the time to start. There is possibly no better area to implement automation than one which deals primarily with numbers, set schedules, and record keeping. There are some awesome accounting apps that allow you to see your business performance apps. Flow CPA in Canada offers the cloud accounting software Xero. Xero cloud accounting now uses artificial intelligence to read the receipts you upload to your software and allocates them to the right general ledger account automatically. This advancement can save you literally hours in tedious sorting, which saves you money as well.
What better way to kick your 2018 off than by implementing a technology solution that will save you time and money throughout the year, while increasing your productivity, efficiency, and accuracy? Contact us to learn more about how Xero can give your small business a competitive advantage in the new year.
