Digital elements have become as much a part of business as sales or marketing, and it’s integrated its way into every department. There are plenty of digital aspects that you or your staff might comfortably take on, but what about the heavy lifting?

Some companies need a full-time IT department, but not all. What businesses need most often is an IT consulting company to fill in the gaps. Here are five major projects, maintenance routines, and more that you might need help with.

Business Apps

Everyone has an app now and being present on your customer’s mobile device is important. According to allBusiness, an app can keep you relevant and improve the efficiency of sales from the customer perspective.

Unfortunately, not everyone is up to the task of creating an app. It’s best to leave app design to the pros. When you have a professional developing your app, they can create something that is not only user-friendly but easy to manage from the back-end as well.

Reputation Management

With the influx of social media and consumers having more power than ever with their opinions, it’s critical that you manage your reputation. Many companies are using an intern or entry-level employee to respond to social media comments, but often, that’s not enough. Podium explains that businesses have always depended on customer recommendations, but in the past, the reach and speed of word-of-mouth limited the damage radius of a single negative customer experience. Today, a single online review can ruin a business under the right circumstances.

By forming and implementing an online reputation management plan, you can identify complaints, compliments, and core concerns that impact your business. You can work with a consultant to set up auto-responses, personalized messages to existing customers, and more. Online reputation management is much more than just monitoring your social media feed for engagement on your posts.

Website Design

The big struggle for many companies that are just getting online is website design. Although sites like WordPress and SquareSpace claim to make it easy with drag and drop design features, there’s more to it than that.

Information Technology professionals understand the complex structure of website design that directly impacts your sales funnel, and how many people abandon carts. When planning your website design, you need help with identifying barriers the customer will face when making a purchase and other troublesome issues.

Data Analytics

In the past, many companies relied on various sources for their data, but you’re probably sitting on a data goldmine. Companies can now use their own customer data for strategic decision making, and even proposal planning.

The struggle that many businesses face, though, is accessing this data. McKinsey & Company say that regardless of what systems you have in place currently, you can begin extracting and analyzing the data on your customers, sales, website visits and more.

Running data analytics is a huge leap for many companies, and you only really need to focus on getting a database running. There are some routine maintenance tasks that come with a database but establishing this system will take your business in the right direction.

Integration

How many different software solutions are you using right now? You could be relying on an Enterprise Resource Management software. If that’s the case, you probably also use something to bridge the gap between your ERM and website.

Integrating software is not an easy task and many people need help in understanding how two different programs are meant to interact with each other. When setting up new software solutions, call an IT consultant. They can make sure that you’re getting the full use out of everything you’re bringing in to your company.

For recurring tasks such as extracting data and running reports out of a database, get help in learning how and when to schedule these tasks. You’ll save yourself time and frustration. Instead, you’ll be able to focus on what your business does best. Not to mention the fact that your customers will thank you for easy-to-use systems, too.

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