How small businesses can use tech for a more profitable year

The new year has already begun, but have you made any updates to your small business' technology? If not, you may be costing your business money. After all, technology can help your employees function more efficiently. That, in turn, could make your small business more profitable in 2014. SmallBusinessComputing.com recently had a look at a few of the more interesting business-technology trends for 2014. It's worth reviewing these to discover how you can boost your business's productivity levels this year.

Betting on the cloud

According to SmallBusinessComputing, the cloud becomes even more important to small businesses this year. This is something that your business should explore. You could very well save serious money by storing your company's software and programs in the cloud rather than on your machine's hard drives. You can also make your company more secure, so that it is less likely that a hacker will gain access to your company's important data.

Using big data

As SmallBusinessComputing.com writes, large companies have long relied on big data to better understand their consumers. Small businesses, though, can begin to use big data analysis, also, according to SmallBusinessComputing.com. As the website states, a growing number of small business owners in 2014 will begin analyzing large data sets to offer better service to their customers. If you would like your business to thrive this year, you have to do a better job of analyzing your customers' spending habits.

Junk those desktops

Small business owners need to save as much money as possible. One way? It's time to eliminate the desktop computer. Most employees these days can do their work on smaller mobile devices or laptops. There's no reason for small businesses to put a desktop computer on the desk of every employee. SmallBusinessComputing.com predicts that more businesses will adopt this approach in 2014.