7 Tech Trends To Add To Your Small Business Startup To Attract An Angel Investor
Angel investment is on the rise,and your small business startup needs to capitalize on all the opportunities at hand. Venture capitalists are on the hunt for business startups to invest in that are currently at the cutting edge of technology and taking risks with these advancements trends. You find that investors are eager to sink their investment dollars in these technologies so that they can reap the future returns. While the payoff might be big for an angel investor, these tech trends will also help your business startup to attract those funding dollars.
Artificial Intelligence
AI is not new to the scene, but for 2018, it is making a significant headway. By allowing companies to do more with less, AI will turn out to be a fundamental change in the way a company does business today and tomorrow. Startups that integrate AI into the fold will experience a shift in how they are able to perform routine tasks, freeing them up to focus on their customers. Angel investors see this as a win-win as they are able to invest in an advancing technology as well as a startup that is leading the way with its use. Your business startup will do well by having AI as a part of your repertoire and see more funding interest come your way in 2018.
Social Media
The uses of social media to enhance your consumer game is a boon for investors looking to find business startups that are succeeding in their customer engagement. While social media isn’t a newcomer technology, those that have a strong endgame will win big in terms of revenue sales. Social media is proving to be the technology platform that links us all together and gives business startups the recognition they need early on. Venture capitalists are enamored with its use by business startup as they see the power it offers and the benefits a business startup can take advantage of. Using social media to boost your business in 2018 will be key to gaining funding from an investor as they recognize the strengths it offers to your consumers.
Blockchain
Blockchain is another technology on the fringe waiting to bust on to the scene in a fury in 2018. It’s ability to provide a real-time ledger of transactions can give your business startup the transparency it needs to garner the nod of a venture capitalist waiting in the wings. Your business startup will benefit from Blockchain’s ability provide stable and error-free operations while angel investors gain by investing in a technology that has proven its worth. You’ll see funding offers from a series of investors if your business startup utilizes Blockchain to its full advantage within your organization.
Internet of Things
The Internet of Things is advancing at a steady clip for the New Year, and you’ll see IoT virtually everywhere you look. With consumers becoming more connected than ever, IoT offers an opportunity for new products and services that enhance IoT’s capabilities in the home, business, and community. Angel investors are savvy to the draw of IoT and how it is changing the way consumers interact and live their lives. They want to get in with business startups that are using this technology to move their business forward, engage with consumers, and improve their business operations. Count on IoT as a way to entice venture capitalists and secure funding in 2018.
Big Data
Data is everywhere these days, and it will only get bigger this coming year. Business startups such as yours will be able to use big data to understand every aspect, detail, and nuance of your customers, so you can create products and services they desire. With big data changing the way that business startups engage with their clients and provide unique customer experiences, it means plenty of evolution is on the horizon. Angel investors are keen on the possibilities all this available data can provide and know that companies that take advantage of the information can lead their industry in leaps and bounds. Use big data to enhance your business startup operations and stay tuned for venture capitalists to come calling with much interest and fanfare about your company this year.
Cyber-Security
While 2017 was a year that many will remember for its security breaches, this year provides a turn of events as business startup integrate or offer cybersecurity services to better protect their customer data. This cybersecurity will change how companies in all sectors operate and provide the level of security that is needed to protect that confidential information from getting into the wrong hands. Business startups that use cyber-security to protect their company or create products and services for others that help them secure their information will do well in the following year. Angel investors will show interest in these endeavors as the need for secure data protocol is growing without hesitation.
Virtual Reality
Also, on the fringe in 2018 is VR. This technology gives you the ability to engage with your customers in a new and exciting way. Through a more desirable customer experience, VR can help your business to increase its customer numbers as well as its revenue as VR improves workflow and access to customers all over your niche. Angel investors want in on AR as an investment opportunity, and your business startup will attract their attention now and into future with this technology at your helm.
Integrating any of these technologies in your business startup shows a strong sense of understanding and initiative to increase your customer base and profits this year and the coming year. Angel investors want to be able to get their hands wet with these new technologies so that they can be where the growth is with these trends. Think about how these technologies can help your business startup succeed in 2018 and secure the funding you need to get off the ground. You’ll be surprised at how much attention you receive by taking the first step with any of these technology trends and reap the rewards of investment into your company by an investor.
Security Needs for a Small Business
With industrialization and globalization, a new kind of industry has come into being known as the small business. It has a limited capital starting from 5crores. With the boom in IT infrastructure many small-scale industries have also started using websites and blogs to promote their business. But as we all know each coin has two sides to it so doe’s use of IT and Net banking.
Hackers are the people who break through the system and steal and sell the personal and confidential information of an organization to its competitors. They always look for small or micro business organizations as they don’t have a high level of security and it is also very easy to hack into their systems.
These are the following sources available for the hackers:
The website or blog
With the advancement in technology, the small and micro businesses have blogs and websites to display their information. This website is connected through a server in the main motherboard with has all the information that is confidential to the business. Hackers tend to target the website or blog and reach the motherboard to get the information of transactions and the day to day dealings of a business.
Mobile phones or tablets
Since the scale of business is small and micro day to day dealings can be done through mobile or net banking. Since we all are careless about the security of our phones this gives the hackers a chance to get into our phones and tablets to hack the information about the transaction and sometimes steal important banking information and capsize the entire amount.
Emails
Emails are another source of getting information from the system. Hackers or spammers can send emails with advertisements or links that once clicked on can generate virus in the system which helps the hackers to steal the information.
Every problem has a remedy to it so does this one. Here are some ways in which we can protect our confidential information from being stolen.
Passwords
Setting passwords on servers and Wi-Fi can be a proven way to protect any outsider from breaking into the system and cracking the information.
Encryption
It is a process of encoding a message in such a way that only authorized parties can access it and those who do not have the authority cannot see or read it. It helps in keeping the information amongst trusted individuals.
Updating
Frequently updating the software allows us to keep the hackers away as they need time to figure out how to crack an update thus keeping our information safe and secure.
Security questions and creative answers
We should come up with unique and different answers for the security questions asked for the safety. The basic and general answers are a guess away.
Don’t link accounts
Linking the website with the bank account for easy transactions is a bad idea as for when the hackers hack into the website he also gets the access to the bank accounts.
Thus the small business can adopt these means to protect their data from hackers.
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Small Business Should Invest in Big Data and Analytics
Big data refers to huge volumes of structured and unstructured data; however, processing such massive volumes of data via traditional data management tools is inefficient and impossible. To understand big data you have to realize the devices that are collecting it today e.g. bar code scanners, mobile cameras, CCTV cameras, motion sensors, smoke alarms, web analytical tools, CRMs, etc. From the examples, you can see that these devices collect a vast array of data types hence the structured and unstructured part in the definition. The sheer velocity at which the data is being produced cannot be controlled and processed using traditional methods and tools.
However, the use of big data and incorporation of big data analytical technology gives businesses the competitive edge over their competitors.
Big Data and Small Businesses
It is only a thing of the past when terms like big data and business intelligence were associated with large enterprises only. Today, small businesses have to leverage the data they are collecting in order to remain a part of the competition. For years, cost has remained the main reason why small businesses did not adopt big data analytical technologies, but this has changed now. There are budget-friendly tools available for small businesses to take advantage of the data they are collecting today. According to some experts, small businesses can take better advantage of big data since they are able to make the necessary changes far more quickly than large enterprises i.e. real-time response to insights from available data.
According to an IDG study in 2016, 78% of the large enterprises agree that big data strategy has the power to change how businesses have always operated. This shows the acceptance of big data technology and strategies for large enterprises and strengthens the fact that small businesses could become irrelevant if they did not adopt the same strategies.
Benefits of Large Data Analytics
Large Data and Big Companies, a report by IIA Director of Research, Tom Davenport, reveals that businesses are benefitting greatly from big data analytics especially in improving their products, making business decisions faster and reducing costs. Here are some ways small businesses can benefit from big data.
• Cost Savings
The upfront cost of implementing large data tools and strategies is high undoubtedly, but the long term benefits of doing so are matchless. The healthcare industry is a great example of how the use of large data can help businesses reduce their costs regardless of their size. Using predictive analytics, Medicare and Medicaid Services forestalled more than $210 million fraud in healthcare with just 2 years of utilizing the aforementioned technology.
In addition to preventing frauds, small businesses can also reduce their costs by steering clear of creating more inventory than needed, including better partners in the supply chain, etc.
• Improved Decision Making
This is the biggest benefit of large data. It allows businesses to expedite decision making by processing the data fast and giving insights in timely manner. In the past, business decisions were reserved for future strategies in the light of available data and the trends that were observed in it. The amount of data that businesses are sitting on today is huge and thus more powerful insights are to be gained from it.
This vast amount of data requires the use of modern big data hardware technologies. Once both the things are in place for a business, they can understand customers better, create products that are a closer reflection of what customers want and develop a brand based on most reverenced values.
• Impenetrable Security
Businesses are more focused today on using large data to improve their core capabilities, but less attended to a more serious concerns i.e. cyber threats and security breaches. Almost every small, medium and large business is connected to the internet today. Moreover, the Internet of Things has broadened the attackable security surface for businesses making it easier for cyber criminals to attack networks and penetrate company databases.
The biggest concern for modern businesses is that they have to “respond” to cyber attacks that have already occurred rather than being able to prevent them from occurring. The use of big data and big data analytical tools can be a game changer in this area allowing businesses to prevent any security attacks way before they are executed.
Key Technologies Helping Businesses Make the Best of Big Data
As a small business, you will have to familiarize with various technologies that help you store, analyze and take action on big data. Here are some important ones:
• Hadoop
It’s a framework supporting the storing of large amounts of data using an open-source approach. Once data is stored, Hadoop enables the use of a variety of applications using “clustered hardware” at its base. Due to the cluster of commodity hardware, it becomes possible and easy for businesses to process big data despite its increasing volume.
• Data Mining
This is the technology that enables business owners to capture insights, patterns and trends from big data that otherwise cannot be obtained with a traditional approach. Data mining is what allows you to jump in a large sea of structured and unstructured data, make sense of it all and produce analytical insights that help businesses with real-time and future decisions.
• Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics walk side by side with data mining. Artificial is at the heart of predictive analytics, enabling business owners to adjust their present strategies by giving predictions about what will transpire for the business based on existing data.
• Text Analysis and Mining
One huge concern for modern business is to analyze the noise on various web platforms such as forums, blogs, social networks, etc. to understand what customers expect from a particular brand. Finding out about brand mentions and understanding customer’s impression of your brand can help you readjust your marketing approach to gain customer loyalty. Text mining helps small to large sized businesses go through text data from emails, blog posts, social networks, etc. and hear customers “voice”.
With the rise of smartphones, artificial intelligence and IoT (internet of things) it has become clearly visible that businesses will now have to handle mountains and mountains of data, and make use of big data analytical and processing technologies to have the competitive edge.
