Small businesses need a break from complicated tools that make it harder to get work done.
That’s the idea behind GoTo’s communication, collaboration, and IT support solutions. We see small companies navigating the daily maze of customer service and vendor relationships. We know the market throws up fresh obstacles every day. Star employees jump ship. Key suppliers go broke. Customers uncover baffling product flaws.
That’s why we built a portfolio of tools specifically for growing businesses. In honor of Small Business Week, we’re sharing the top four reasons why entrepreneurs deserve easier, affordable technology (and insights from GoTo customers who agree):
1. Communication and collaboration challenges keep piling up
At GoTo, we understand the many obstacles small businesses have to overcome when trying to do it all with limited resources. Communicating and collaborating with stakeholders needs to work flawlessly or businesses risk losing customers. However, this is often one the largest hurdles IT teams have to tackle.
Back in February 2022, we got together with the market researchers at Frost & Sullivan to uncover what small businesses have been up against lately — especially in light of the pandemic. Of the over 1000 small and midsize businesses Frost & Sullivan researchers surveyed:
- Three-quarters said their IT workloads increased in the past year.
- More than nine-tenths wanted to reduce the burdens on their IT people.
- 95% of businesses have plans to consolidate in 2022.
These findings reinforced what we’ve learned: Small companies that are fortunate enough to have a dedicated IT team are also really at risk of overworking their IT people. Companies with no IT people may fall behind more tech-capable competitors.
GoTo Connect, our all-in-one phone, meeting, and messaging solution, is designed specifically for these kinds of issues. It can simplify things if you have a hodgepodge of technology tools without the need for extensive technology acumen. In fact, we always say it is easy to use for everyone — whether you have an IT team, are an IT team of one, or are unsure if you need an IT team yet.
“Unifying everything into one solution has been amazing,” says Todd Hawkins, IT Manager with BMW of Murray, a Utah car dealer that implemented GoTo Connect.
“Texting, faxing, recording, and reporting from one central location is a huge upside. I was able to cancel six or seven different products once we made the switch.”
2. Hybrid work is here to stay
Many GoTo customers learned the value of a robust remote-work solution during the pandemic.
“Moving to GoTo Connect was a relief for us,” says Karen Hoflin, vice president of Go Insurance, a Canadian automotive insurer. “Given this happened during the pandemic when we were remote, it was a weight lifted off my shoulders knowing we could effectively manage the phones, our customers, incoming calls, and our staff.”
As the COVID19 threat recedes, hybrid models keep delivering value to small businesses, improving productivity and work culture for more than three-quarters of the respondents to our Frost & Sullivan survey. Video conferencing and IT helpdesk tools are the most popular applications for the survey’s respondents.
3. Leaders need room to maneuver
Elaborate enterprise phone systems can bog down the progress of smaller companies that crave the flexibility of cloud-based communications tools like GoTo Connect.
We designed our software to be simple to implement and flexible enough to resolve a wide variety of day-to-day issues.
“If we need to close the shop because the family is taking a vacation day, I can easily update the phone message and setting from home, saving me a trip to the shop,” says Brett Morris of Simply Print, a family-owned print shop in Australia. “And if the Internet is down, I’m not missing any calls — they come through my mobile.”
Hawkins of BMW of Murray welcomes the intuitive user interface. “Less than a month in, we know how to do anything and everything in GoTo Connect. From making changes to pulling reports, it’s all amazingly simple and easy to use,” he says. “Our service manager, sales manager, and shop foreperson can all pull reports and listen to call recordings, which is hugely beneficial. It takes so much pressure and time off of our IT group and enables the management team to go in and hold people accountable. It’s been transformative.”
4. Technology should be economical
In years past, companies had to install expensive PBX hardware to manage calls, regardless of call volume. In the era of software-as-a-service (SaaS) based in the cloud, smaller companies can fine-tune their phone system to their precise needs, paying only for the technology they actually use. They can also bundle key tools in one unified solution for phone, meeting, messaging, and contact center.
SaaS can yield savings for smaller enterprises while providing the scale required for rapid growth.
If you’re thinking about making the leap to a unified communications and collaboration solution, check out GoTo Connect.
