The True ROI of Tech for Australian SMEs: Where to Spend and How Much You’ll Save
In all businesses today, technology plays an integral part in maintaining the workflow and systems. This is true regardless of the size and scope of the business, including local, independently-run shops scattered throughout Australia.
In Australia, many small and medium-sized businesses utilise technology to streamline their operations and carry out tasks more efficiently. That being said, some companies utilise tech better than others, and in doing so, they shave on costs that they may otherwise have incurred when facilitating their various operational processes.
If you’re looking to hop in on the tech-fueled bandwagon and give your SME an edge in the Australian consumer market, then that’s generally a good direction to direct your business towards. However, it’s also a delicate balancing act—as investing too much on technology can burn your capital fast and lead to unrecoupable losses.
Knowing where to allocate your spending is therefore a vital consideration to make to ensure that your business is oriented towards success. When done effectively, this can lead to a great deal of savings and reduced costs due to having less reliance on manpower or time-consuming tasks.
If you’re keen to learn more about the benefits of tech for Australian SMEs, you’re in the right place. We’ll showcase the true ROI of technology and go into greater detail on how to harness it in a cost-effective way.
Let’s jump right into it!
1. Invest in Expense and Payment Management Software
Once your small business starts gaining traction, you’ll not only rake in more revenue, but you’ll also likely spend more on raw materials and other overhead expenses that may bring up the costs.
Depending on your level of scale, this can be overwhelming and hard to keep up with. This is especially true if you’re handling the financial activities of your business by yourself.
Fortunately, you don’t have to do it all alone. One technological solution that can help is expense management software.
It’s standard practice for finance professionals to spend many hours a week on record-keeping activities. According to a recent OFX report on the best expense management tools in Australia, businesses using automated solutions cut processing time by up to 70% compared to manual methods.
Expense management software can serve several functions. For one, it can consolidate receipts and invoices in a single system, greatly enhancing the organisation of your spending and various payables.
Moreover, it also generates real-time reports to give your business a good idea of its budget and bookkeeping records. It can also be used by you and your team to submit and approve expenses, respectively, greatly streamlining banking and payroll processes, including generating accurate pay stubs and maintaining clear payroll records.
OFX is one particularly strong business tool for expense management, and it comes with a wide range of features to simplify control of cross-border expenses. Besides OFX, Xero and Intuit QuickBooks offer affordable and scalable accounting and expense management features that can simplify expense and bookkeeping activities as well.
You can save the equivalent of a finance officer’s yearly wage by opting for these services, which usually cost about $360 AUD to $1,200 annually, depending on the plan.
In any case, allocating your costs for these expense management tools can produce great results for your business. It’s reliable, easy to set up, and cuts down on manual working hours for you and your financial staff—greatly enhancing productivity and making it easier for you to prioritise developing numbers-based, large-scale business growth strategies in the process, especially when paired with solutions like Rippling payroll services to further streamline payroll and compliance.
For businesses planning larger tech upgrades, it can be useful to seek guidance from finance professionals like Secured Lending. They can outline secured business loan solutions that give you the flexibility to invest in the tools you need while keeping your working capital intact.
2. Invest in Cybersecurity Software
A lot of people believe that they can skimp out on investing in cybersecurity tools for their business. After all, why would any cyber criminal target a small business over larger brands with a treasure trove of sensitive data?
However, thinking about it like that can lead you to become complacent with your company’s sensitive files. If you fail to invest in adequate anti-virus software, you could end up unknowingly leaking your data away for the public to see and collect through various channels on the internet.
This can lead to a domino effect of consequences, from exposing your files to competitors and unlawful persons to breaching customer trust and privacy. This can force your hand into doing extensive damage control, from bandaging the problem (which is near-impossible at this point) to potentially navigating lawsuits.
It’s best to invest in technology that upholds preventive measures to safeguard your company’s digital assets. Hiring a dedicated IT professional also helps as they have the expertise to manage these softwares effectively.
Fortunately, there are many great commercial anti-virus software that can provide reliable protection to small business owners, namely Norton, Malwarebytes, and Bitdefender.
This software can cost companies anywhere between A$75 and A$250, with higher-priced plans offering better layers of protection and an increased number of devices covered. While the cost saved isn’t plainly spelled out, the avoidance of a business catastrophe can serve as a necessary expense for your business to pay for.
3. Spend on Improving the Customer Experience (CRM)
Another way to boost your ROI through technology as a small business owner is by allocating a portion of your budget to CRM tools.
If you’re only relying on spreadsheets or manual customer tracking processes, you’re sorely missing out on a host of features that can make your business earn more money.
There are a couple of great tools that can help centralise vital customer data, with some notable names like HubSpot and Salesforce’s free CRM being exceptional ones for small businesses like yours. These tools can log calls, emails, and build personalised follow-up reminders to increase customer spending and their overall lifetime value.
Plans for the aforementioned CRM tools start as low as A$20 per user per month, with more advanced options ranging up to A$150 per user per month. By investing in these tools and using the right strategies to maximise them, you can enjoy a profitable payoff in no time. In some cases, even one customer is enough to pay off the monthly cost of the technology.
We hope these tips will help you realise the true value of tech. All the best in optimising the costs of your small business!
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This content was produced by the Jim’s IT team, specialists in computer repairs, IT support, and technology solutions for homes and businesses across Australia. With years of hands-on experience solving real customer issues, our team shares practical insights, expert tips, and proven strategies to help you stay connected, secure, and running efficiently.